Fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya said in a statement on Tuesday, 26 June that he has made and will continue to make every effort to settle his dues with public sector banks (PSBs).
“I am tired of this relentless pursuit of me by the (Indian) government and its criminal agencies,” Mallya said in the statement, adding that he had been made the “poster boy” of bank default and a “lightning rod of public anger”.
Mallya said he had broken his silence to state the “factual position in response to the controversy unfortunately surrounding” him and said that he had written letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the finance minister on 15 April 2016 to explain his side of the story.
“No response was received from either of them,” he said.
Here’s the full statement that Vijay Mallya released on his Twitter account.
Mallya, who is currently fighting against extradition to India from the UK, also stated the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) have filed charge sheets against him “with various untenable and blatantly false allegations acting at the behest of the government and lending banks”.
“The ED have also attached assets belonging to me, my Group Companies and companies owned and/or controlled by my family under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) currently valued at approximately Rs 13,900 crore,” he wrote.
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