I am being hunted, will not speak to the media, says Vijay Mallya

Liquor baron takes on to Twitter again to lash out at the media for trying to hunt him; asks them not to waste their efforts

Vijay Mallya, who owes over Rs 7,200 crore debt — taken to run the defunct Kingfisher Airlines — on Sunday accused the media of hunting him and that they were looking at the wrong places in the United Kingdom.

“I am being hunted down by media in UK. Sadly they did not look in the obvious place. I will not speak to media so don't waste your efforts," Mallya wrote on the micro-blogging site, Twitter.

Mallya, 60, took a Jet Airways flight to London on March 2, 2016 as regulators and investigation agencies became aggressive after public pressure increased to recover the loans, for which he stood personal guarantee. Details of his whereabouts in London are not known, but Mallya owns a sprawling villa in the city’s outskirts.

The UB Group chairman, who built India's largest liquor and beer company before he sold majority stake in them to British liquor major Diageo and Dutch beer brand Heineken, respectively to raise funds to run Kingfisher Airlines. In the process, he also gave personal guarantees to banks to raise additional funds.

"Yes, there was trouble in the account; the account was already stressed. He wanted another opportunity to try and turn it around. We felt it was right for him to get that opportunity, but just as we risked money, we also asked that he put in a personal guarantee," State Bank of India chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya told Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7's Walk the Talk programme. "That's the reason why we have gone to him and not only after the assets of Kingfisher Airlines, because the guarantee was given by him, a guarantee was given by the holding company. We are going to go for recovery against all three."

SBI leads the consortium of 17 banks that lent Kingfisher Airlines and Mallya funds, before the airline shut in 2012.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is investigating a money laundering case against Mallya, has directed the Rajya Sabha MP to be present before it on March 18. The ED has already questioned Kingfisher Airlines CFO A Raghunathan and UB Group CFO Ravi Nedungadi. ED's case is based on a CBI investigation on a Rs 900 crore loan given to Mallya by IDBI Bank, despite an internal committee recommending against disbursing the money. CBI had begun looking at the case since August 2014.

Mallya has taken pains to defend that he would abide by India's laws and would return to the country.

“I’m an international businessman. I travel to and from India frequently. I did not flee from India and neither am I an absconder. Rubbish," he tweeted last week. “News reports say that I must declare my assets. Does that mean that banks did not know my assets or look at my parliamentary disclosures,” he asked in a tweet. Mallya in his affidavit to the Rajya Sabha has disclosed that he has not got debts and owns around Rs 615 crore in assets. He does not disclose his liability in the affidavit.

 “As an Indian MP, I fully respect and will comply with the law of the land. Our judicial system is sound and respected,” Mallya said in his tweet last week.

Meanwhile, Kirit Somaiya, a BJP Member of Parliament and a member of Parliament’s Finance Committee and Public Accounts Committee, said sale of assets by Mallya in the last few 

years should be probed – considering the huge liabilities to banks, tax authorities, provident fund authorities and employees. The complex money transfer between various Mallya entities in India, United Spirits and Virgin Island entities should also be looked into, he said.