Vijay Mallya asks govt to accept loan repayment offer, close case against him

Embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who is fighting against his extradition to India, on Thursday asked the government to accept his offer to repay 100% of his loan dues and close case against him.

While congratulating the Indian government over the Rs 20 lakh crore economic package, Mallya lamented that his repeated offers to repay his dues have been ignored.

"Congratulations to the Government for a Covid 19 relief package. They can print as much currency as they want BUT should a small contributor like me who offers 100% payback of State owned Bank loans be constantly ignored?" he said in a tweet.

Mallya, promoter of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines, who is wanted in India over alleged fraud and money laundering charges amounting to estimated Rs 9,000 crore, added,"Please take my money unconditionally and close." 

Earlier this month, Mallya had filed an appeal in the UK Supreme Court after losing an appeal in the London High Court against an extradition order to India on alleged charges of fraud and money laundering related to unrecovered loans to Kingfisher Airlines.

The 64-year-old businessman had 14 days to file this application to seek permission to move the higher court on the High Court judgment from April 20, which dismissed his appeal against a Westminster Magistrates' Court extradition order certified by the UK Home Secretary.

"The leave to appeal has been filed. We have until May 14 to respond, said a spokesperson for the UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which represents the Indian authorities in the legal process of the extradition.

In the past, Mallya had tweeted that he had offered to pay 100% of the amount borrowed by Kingfisher Airlines to the banks but neither banks were willing to take the money nor the Enforcement Directorate was willing to release his attached assets at the behest of the banks.