London/New Delhi: Calling PM Modi an “eloquent speaker”, fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya on Thursday asked as to why the PM was not instructing the banks to take the money he had made available to pay off the public funds lent to Kingfisher. On February 4, the UK Home Office has signed an order approving the extradition of Mallya to India.
Taking to Twitter, Mallya said: “The Prime Minister’s last speech in Parliament was brought to my attention. He certainly is a very eloquent speaker. I noticed that he referred to an unnamed person who ‘ran away’ with `9,000 crore. Given the media narrative I can only infer that reference is to me.”
“Following on from my earlier tweet, I respectfully ask why the PM is not instructing his Banks to take the money I have put on the table so he can at least claim credit for full recovery of public funds lent to Kingfisher,” he said in a series of tweet. The reaction from Mallya came after Modi in his last Parliament speech on Wednesday, referred to an unnamed person who “ran away” with `9,000 crore.
Mallya further claimed he has made the offer to settle the matter before the High Court of Karnataka. “I have made the offer to settle before the Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka. It cannot be dismissed as frivolous. It is a perfectly tangible, sincere, honest and readily achievable offer. The shoe is on the other foot now. Why don’t the Banks take the money lent to KFA?” he added.
Mallya said: “Am appalled to say the least at the media reports on the ED claims that I hid my wealth! If there was hidden wealth how could I put nearly `14,000 crore worth of assets openly in front of court? Shameful misleading of public opinion but unsurprising.”
