UB Group chairman and former liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya, who flew to the UK last month, has said he is in “forced exile” and bankers “are not getting any money” by taking his passport or arresting him.
In a four-hour interview with the Financial Times, Mallya said he remains an Indian patriot, who is “proud to fly the Indian flag”, but as the outcry around him continues, he is more than happy to stay safe in the UK and has no plans to leave that country.
India has asked the UK government to deport embattled Mallya, wanted for questioning in a money-laundering probe and being pursued by creditors for over Rs.9,000 crore in unpaid loans.
The request was made within days of a special court issuing a non-bailable warrant for the arrest of Mallya, who flew to the UK on 2 March, as investigators and creditors to his grounded Kingfisher Airlines Ltd closed in on him.
The government last week revoked Mallya’s diplomatic passport—given to him by virtue of his status as a member of the Rajya Sabha—in an effort to bring him back to India. It suspended the passport on 15 April for four weeks on the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing money-laundering allegations against him.
“We have always been in dialogue with banks, saying: ‘We wish to settle’. But we wish to settle at a reasonable number that we can afford and banks can justify on the basis of settlements done before,” Mallya told the Financial Times.
However, the business tycoon added: “By taking my passport or arresting me, they are not getting any money.”
Mallya told the newspaper that he has no plans to leave the UK, where he says he is in “forced exile”.
He blamed the lenders for declining his offer to pay over Rs.4,000 crore as settlement, adding that bankers are fearful of taking any haircut on their loans in the face of the public frenzy whipped up against him in India.
“It is important to understand the environment in India today. The electronic media is playing a huge role not just in moulding public opinion but in inflaming the government to a very large extent,” Mallya said in his first interview after leaving for the UK.
Mallya has also contested the Rs.9,000 crore outstanding amount reached by lenders, terming the sum an “inflated amount”.
He claimed the actual principal borrowed was a little over £500 million (Rs.4,870 crore), while interest as of 2013, when legal skirmishes over repayment began, was £120 million (Rs.1,170 crore).
“It is grossly unjust to apply compound interest and artificially inflate this figure,” he told Financial Times.
Mallya said his offer of a final settlement of £440 million was “way, way in excess of the World Bank average for settlement of bad debts”.
“As professional bankers, they would like to settle and move on but, because of my image as portrayed, they are reluctant to be seen as giving me any discount,” Mallya said.
“It will attract huge media criticism and inquiries by vigilance agencies in India,” said Mallya, who was known as the “King of Good Times” for his lifestyle.
On Monday, the ethics committee of the Rajya Sabha decided unanimously to expel Mallya from Parliament’s Upper House, and gave him a week’s time to explain his conduct in the default on bank loans.
Banks have been turning up the pressure on Mallya, seeking details of his assets both in India and overseas, and have won a favourable ruling from the Supreme Court. On 22 April, Mallya’s counsel told the court that banks had no right to seek details of assets held by him or his family abroad on grounds that he had been a non-resident Indian for income tax and foreign exchange purposes since 1988, while his estranged wife and three children are US citizens.