What I own abroad is my business, Vijay Mallya tells Banks

New Delhi: Defiant Vijay Mallya informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that since he is an NRI, banks have no right to seek information of his family’s assets in India and abroad. He, however, reiterated that he was already offering Rs 4,400 crore towards settlement of dues. In an affidavit filed on Thursday in response to the order passed by a Bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohinton Nariman in the petition filed by consortium of banks, Mr Mallya said apart from the Rs 6,107.53 crore already lost by United Breweries, he was offering another Rs 2,468 crore as settlement for the dues.

Though he claimed immunity from giving details, he said he had collective assets to the tune of Rs 780 crores abroad. But since these assets were never considered while granting the loans or restructuring the loans of Kingfisher Airlines, he was not obliged to disclose the details even in his Indian income tax returns. His wife and children also enjoyed immunity from disclosure, he said. He, however, offered to reveal the details only to the Bench in a sealed cover particularly in view of the coercive measures initiated against him by the government and the Enforcement Directorate.

He informed the apex court that his passport has been suspended without issuing a showcause notice. He said the loans  were scrupulously used for business purposes of Kingfisher Airlines, including meeting legitimate outstanding dues incurred in the normal course of business. He said he was ready and willing to try and achieve a negotiated settlement with the banks. He said Kingfisher Airlines was a genuine commercial business and failure to repay the loans was principally on acco-unt of reasons beyond its control.

He  denied that any loan advanced by any banks has been misused or otherwise and that his company has amassed assets in the name of his family to defeat the process of recovery of the alleged dues. He said from inception, the UB Group of companies and its associates have infused about Rs 6,107.53 crores, all of which has been lost.The details of liabilities of Kingfisher Airlines as on March 31, 2013 aggregated to Rs 15,730.86 crores including the outstanding dues claimed by the banks. UBHL is a public company in which 52.35 per cent of shares are held and controlled by the Mallya family and the balance 47.66 per cent are held by 50,848 public shareholders.