Verify facts before calling me a defaulter: Vijay Mallya

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya whose passport has been revoked by the government, said on Tuesday that facts needed to be verified first before he was branded as a ‘defaulter’.

However he admitted that Kingfisher Air owes money to banks but added that he was neither a borrower nor a judgement debtor. “Why am I a defaulter inspite of a settlement offer ?” he added.

The flamboyant businessman had earlier expressed disappointment over being labelled as a wilful defaulter despite his willingness to settle all financial disputes.

On Monday, Mallya resigned as a Rajya Sabha MP a week after the Rajya Sabha’s ethics committee decided to unanimously expel him from Parliament, and a day before the committee was to meet to seal his fate with a final approval.

Mallya, an Independent member from Karnataka, sent his resignation to Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Hamid Ansari, a source close to the



chairman said. He also sent a letter to Rajya Sabha Ethics Committee chairman Karan Singh.

The panel gave him a week’s time, that was to end Tuesday, to put in his papers. Mallya in his letter has claimed innocence, the sources added.

Mallya, wanted for defaulting in repayment of bank loans to the tune of Rs.9,000 crore, offered to pay part of the debt to the consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India, which had advanced l.oans to his now defunct Kingfisher Airlines Ltd.

According to parliament sources, during his tenure of almost 10 years as member of the Rajya Sabha, Mallya had been declaring his assets and liabilities as “nil”.

The union government too had revoked Mallya’s passport after he failed to turn up for a probe into the bank default. This set in motion the process for the billionaire’s possible deportation from Britain, where he is staying at present.