Minutes after absconding Vijay Mallya made the startling claim of meeting the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley trashed his claims by saying that he never gave any appointment to the former liquor baron and the question of meeting him does not arise.
In a Facebook post, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, “..he misused that (being Rajya Sabha member) 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’.”
The 62-year-old Kingfisher Airline boss made the startling comment outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court where his extradition case is being heard. Vijay Mallya said that he met the Finance Minister before leaving the country and also made a settlement offer for the bank dues.
However, Arun Jaitley said that Vijay Mallya merely ran into him at the Parliament and that when he tried to make the settlement offer, he was told to meet his bankers. “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,’” Arun Jaitley said in a statement.
The statement of Vijay Mallaya that he met me & offered settlement 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.
— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) September 12, 2018
Vijay Mallya is on an extradition warrant since his arrest in April last year. India has put forth its demand to extradite Vijay Mallya on the charges of fraud and money laundering of about Rs 9,000 crore. On Wednesday, the Indian authorities showed the video of Mumbai jail as asked by the UK Court to decide whether or not the jail conditions are good enough to send Vijay Mallya back to India. Earlier, Vijay Mallya had claimed that Indian jails are over-crowded and have no hygiene.
