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Vijay Mallya claims he met Finance Minister before leaving India, Arun Jaitley rubbishes charge


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Talking to reporters outside London's Westminster Magistrates' Court, which is hearing his extradition case, Mallya claimed, "I met the finance minister to settle matters before I left. The banks had filed objections to my settlement letters."

Vijay Mallya claims he met Finance Minister before leaving India, Arun Jaitley rubbishes charge

London: F1 Force India team boss Vijay Mallya arrives to attend a hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court in London, Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018.

 

Making a sensational claim, embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya Wednesday said that he had met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and offered to settle his financial dues before leaving India. “I left because I had a scheduled meeting in Geneva. I met the finance minister before I left. Repeated my offer to settle with the banks. That’s the truth,” Mallya claimed while talking to reporters outside London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court, which is hearing his extradition case.

Mallya is currently facing charges of fraud and money laundering to the tune of around Rs 9,000 crore in India. Earlier in the day, he said he had made a “comprehensive settlement” offer before the Karnataka High Court that will help in paying off all his dues.

Arun Jaitley was the Finance Minister in 2016 when Mallya left India. Responding to the charges, Jaitley said the Mallya’s statement is “factually false in as much as it does not reflect truth.”

“Since 2014, I have never given him any appointment to meet me and the question of his having met me does not arise. However, since he was a Member of Rajya Sabha and he occasionally attended the House, he misused that privilege on one occasion while I was walking out of the House to go to my room. He paced up to catch up with me and while walking uttered a sentence that ”I am making an offer of settlement,” Jaitley said on his Facebook page.

Pouncing on the BJP over Mallya’s claims, the Congress said the government must explain how Mallya was allowed to leave the country. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the country wants to know what transpired during the meetings between Mallya and Jaitley. “The government should now explain how and why he was allowed to leave and what transpired at those meetings. The nation wants to know,” he said.

The Congress added that Mallya’s comment he met Jaitley confirms its “assertion that government was fully complicit in flight of people like him and others.”

With his statement snowballing into a major controversy, Mallya sought to clarify his remarks and said: “I happened to meet Mr Jaitley in Parliament and told him that I am leaving for London… I did not have any formal meetings scheduled with him.”

Below is a part of the transcription of Mallya’s interaction with journalists outside the London court

Q: Mr Mallya did somebody tip you off in Parliament… about people going after you.. about charges against you
This is the allegation.. that you were tipped off.. that you were allowed to leave the country.

A: I left because I had a scheduled meeting in Geneva… I met the finance minister before I left. Repeated my offer to settle with the banks. That’s the truth

Q: Why would somebody deny an offer to be paid, Mr Mallya? After all you were an MP and you were holding very high place in the Indian Parliament… why would anybody not accept your offer of payment…

A: It might interest you to know that the banks have filed objections in the court on my settlement applications.. you should ask them why they are not supporting me in my efforts to repay them. That’s the better way of looking at things.

Q: Could you tell us a little more about the meeting with the Finance Minister

A: Why should I be telling you?

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‘Factually false’: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley denies Vijay Mallya’s claim of meeting him before leaving India

“Since 2014, I have never given him any appointment to meet me and the question of his having met me does not arise,” Finance Minister Jaitley said in a Facebook post.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday denied fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s claim that he met the minister before leaving India. 

Terming Mallya’s claim as “factually false”, Jaitley said that he had never  given Mallya any appointment to meet him since 2014.

Talking to media persons after arriving at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in UK on Wednesday, Mallya claimed that he had met Jaitley before leaving India and repeated the offer to settle with banks.

“I left because I had a scheduled meeting in Geneva. I met the finance minister before I left, repeated my offer to settle with the banks. That is the truth,” mallya said when asked if he was “tipped off” to leave the country.

Mallya appeared in the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in a case regarding his extradition to India to face the trial on fraud and money laundering charges.

However, Arun Jaitley, who was the Finance Minister in 2016 when Mallya left India, completely denied the liquor baron’s claim.

“Since 2014, I have never given him any appointment to meet me and the question of his having met me does not arise,” Finance Minister Jaitley said in a Facebook post.

“The statement is factually false in as much as it does not reflect truth,” he asserted.

Watch: Arun Jaitley denies Vijay Mallya’s claim of meeting him before leaving India

 

 

Jaitley said Mallya “misused” the privilege of being a Rajya Sabha MP to catch him in corridors of Parliament on one occasion while he was walking out of the House to go to his room.

 

 

He said Mallya, while walking alongside, “uttered a sentence that ‘I am making an offer of settlement’. Having being fully briefed about his ‘bluff offers’, without allowing him to proceed with the conversation, I curtly told him ‘there was no point talking to me and he must make offers to his bankers.’”

“I did not even receive the papers he was holding in his hand,” Jaitley said.

In London, talking to reporters Mallya said the media should question the banks why they are not supporting him in his efforts to repay. 

“I have said before that I am a political football. There is nothing that I can do about it. My conscience is clear and (I) put almost Rs 15,000 crore worth of assets on the table of the Karnataka High Court,” he said.

“I am certainly a scapegoat, I feel like a scapegoat. Both political parties don’t like me,” he said, while having a cigarette during the lunch break during the hearing for his ongoing extradition case at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London.

He sarcastically described the video of Barrack 12 at Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail, which has been prepared for him, as “very impressive”. 

“I have no comment, you are hearing everything in court,” he added on further questions by the reporters. 

Mallya has been on bail on an extradition warrant since his arrest in April last year and is fighting extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs 9,000 crores.

At the previous hearing in July, Judge Arbuthnot had asked the Indian authorities to submit a “step by step video” of Barrack 12 of Arthur Road Jail for “the avoidance of doubt” over the availability of natural light in the cell where the businessman is expected to be detained pre-trial, during trial and in the event he is convicted by the Indian courts.

The extradition trial, which opened at the London court on December 4 last year, is aimed at laying out a prima facie case of fraud against Mallya. It also seeks to prove there are no “bars to extradition” and that the tycoon is assured a fair trial in India over his now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines’ alleged default of over Rs 9,000 crores in loans from a consortium of Indian banks.

Mallya’s defence team has deposed a series of expert witnesses to claim he had no “fraudulent” intentions and that he is unlikely to get a fair trial in India.

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1 hour ago, Kool_SRG said:

:giggle:

idhigo SRG.. raaka raaka edho adhikram loki vacharu... inko 5 yellu palinchalani kala gantunnaru...

 

nuvvu chooste 5 yellu kooda prashantamga koosoniyatledu kada!!!  

 

endhuku brother t4624.gif

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5 minutes ago, Mitron said:

idhigo SRG.. raaka raaka edho adhikram loki vacharu... inko 5  50 yellu palinchalani kala gantunnaru...

 

nuvvu chooste 5 yellu kooda prashantamga koosoniyatledu kada!!!  

 

endhuku brother t4624.gif

:giggle:

 

Akkada already 50 yellu ani confirmed no...

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Swamy says order to downgrade Mallya notice came from finance ministry

It's an "undeniable fact" that Vijay Mallya told Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament that he was leaving for London, Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy said today.

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Another such fact, according to Swamy: That a lookout notice was "diluted on [October] 24, 2015 from 'Block' to 'Report' departure, enabling Mallya to depart with 54 checked luggage items".

Swamy said he learned from "sources" that the lookout notice was downgraded on the orders of "someone" in the Ministry of Finance.

 

Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi asked why Swamy was just tweeting, and said he was duty-bound to "reveal and report".

'NO POINT TALKING TO ME'

Yesterday, Mallya told reporters in London that he met Jaitley before he left India. The former liquor baron later said he never met Jaitley formally.

Jaitley, on his part, said Mallya used his privilege as a Rajya Sabha member and accosted him in the corridor of Parliament.

"He paced up to catch up with me and while walking uttered a sentence that 'I am making an offer of settlement'," he said. "Having been fully briefed about his earlier 'bluff offers', without allowing him to proceed with the conversation, I curtly told him 'there was no point talking to me and he must make offers to his bankers'."

"I did not even receive the papers that he was holding in his hand."

PL Punia, a Congress party spokesperon, said Jaitley was "lying".

"I saw him having [a] prolonged meeting in Central Hall of Parliament about two days before he [Mallya] was allowed to escape from India," he said.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi said Mallya's "allegations" were "extremely serious".

"The PM should immediately order an independent probe into the matter. Arun Jaitley should step down as Finance Minister while this probe is underway," he tweeted.

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We have now two undeniable facts on the Mallya escape issue: 1. Look Out Notice was diluted on Oct 24, 2015 from “Block” to “Report” departure enabling Mallya to depart with 54 checked luggage items. 2. Mallya told FM in Central Hall of Parliament that he was leaving for London.

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