New Delhi: Embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya Tuesday said he will continue to pursue further legal remedies a day after the UK High Court dismissed his appeal against a lower court order to extradite him to India.
Mallya, promoter of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines, insisted that as per the UK High Court ruling, the allegations against him and others are specifically and only related to three tranches of borrowing from IDBI Bank for a total of Rs 900 crore in 2009, and not what has been reported that he has to face trial in Indian courts for Rs 9,000 crore fraud.
“I am naturally disappointed with the High Court decision. I will continue to pursue further legal remedies as advised by my lawyers,” Mallya said in a series of tweets.
Disappointed with media narratives
He further said, “I am also disappointed with the media narrative which states that I must face trial in India for a fraud of Rs 9,000 crores.”
Justifying himself, Mallya drew attention to “paragraph 6 of the judgement which is available to the public”.
“Please note that the allegations against me and others are specifically and only related to three tranches of borrowing from IDBI Bank for a total of Rs 900 crores in 2009,” he claimed.
The beleaguered liquor tycoon claimed, “This loan was subsumed along with loans from other Banks within the Master Debt Recast Agreement of 2010.”
He further said, “Following the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) order for the payment of approximately Rs 5,000 crores by way of Principal and Rs 1,200 crores by way of unapplied interest making a total of Rs 6,200 crores.”
He said the banks have “already recovered in cash a sum of Rs 2,500 crore which is 50 per cent of the Principal amount”.
Mallya said, “I have repeatedly offered to repay the Banks in full but, sadly to no avail.”
The UK High Court had Monday dismissed his objections to a lower court order of December 2018 which prima facie made a case for misrepresentation to banks to secure credit, conspiracy and money laundering.
He has 14 days to apply for permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court.
PTI