New Delhi: Under fire from the court and banks, Kingfisher Airlines Chairman Vijay Mallya has denied allegations that he is a wilful defaulter. He has said that he will take the legal recourse available.
He made these comments while attending the United Breweries' Annual General Meeting in Bangalore on Thursday. "We strongly deny the allegations made. We shall pursue all available legal remedies to us," Mallya said.
Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines have been declared wilful defaulters by the United Bank for not repaying a debt of Rs 350 crore. The group is sitting on a debt of nearly Rs 25,000 crore.
"We were not given a hearing, we have not appeared before them, we disagree with their action and we shall pursue legal action," Mallya said.
Kingfisher Airlines and directors declared as wilful defaulters will not be able to borrow from banks in the future. They would also lose Director-level positions in companies and criminal proceeding could be initiated against them, if warranted, to recover the money. The carrier had allegedly opened multiple current accounts leading to diversion of funds, said a bank official, adding that there is a balance of Rs 7.5 crore in other-than-the-designated current account as on date.
The Kolkata-based bank is the first PSU lender to initiate the process of declaring Vijay Mallya and three other directors of the grounded Kingfisher Airlines as wilful defaulters a couple of months ago. Other banks such as State Bank of India, IDBI Bank and Punjab National Bank have also initiated the process of declaring KFA and its directors as wilful defaulters.
UBI's exposure to Kingfisher Airlines was around Rs 350 crore as part of consortium led by State Bank of India. The consortium of 17 banks, has an outstanding debt of about Rs 6,521 crore from the now-grounded carrier and outside the consortium, the bank gave about Rs 60 crore loan for Pre-Delivery payment.
(With additional information from PTI)
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