Businessman and fugitive Vijay Mallya, an accused in fraud and money laundering cases in India, recently attempted to set his record straight in a podcast where he opened up about the mountain of debt under his name.
In a rare public appearance, Mallya, in a podcast with YouTuber Raj Shamani, answered questions over the massive loan default and revealed the exact amount he had taken as a loan.
Challenging the ₹9000 crore loan amount claims, Vijay Mallya mentioned that the debt recovery tribunal’s recovery certificate showed a loan amount of nearly ₹6,203 crore, 35 lakhs, including an interest of 11.5 per cent.
As per the clips from the podcast episode, the total debt was against four entities, including Kingfisher Airlines, United Breweries, Vijay Mallya and Kingfisher Finvest, Mallya claimed.
The Indian government has not yet responded to Vijay Mallya’s comments made during the interview.
₹14,000 crore recovered from me: Vijay Mallya
Mallya, while speaking to Shamani, also mentioned a recent report published by India’s ministry of finance, in which the government acknowledged the recovery of ₹14,100 crore from the Kingfisher Airlines owner.
“I am the one under attack,” Mallya said. While clarifying about the widely reported debt amount of ₹9,000 crore, Mallya said, “I am as perplexed as you are because the banks have never submitted a statement to me, which in itself is very strange.”
Claiming that the banks have already recovered ₹14,000 crore, Mallya has requested that they provide a statement detailing the total recovered amount.
‘Don’t call me a chor, ‘ says Vijay Mallya
The former Kingfisher Airlines chief addressed his controversial exit from India, legal battles, the downfall of his airline and his problem of being called a ‘chor’.
“Call me a fugitive for not going to India post-March (2016). I didn’t run away, I flew out of India on a prescheduled visit. Fair enough, I did not return for reasons that I consider valid, so if you want to call me a fugitive, go ahead, but where is the ‘chor’ coming from… where is the ‘chori’?” Mallya said on the podcast.
