Mallya Plays Victim Card, Says He Wanted To Return Money But Bank Sold His Shares For Rs 1008 Crore

United Breweries and its flagship brand Kingfisher was, for a long time, synonymous with the name Vijay Mallya in his heydays, while he was also referred to as 'the king of good times'.

So, it was quite natural for the fugitive liquor baron to have a meltdown to see his shares in the company getting sold.

A sulking Mallya took to Twitter to vent his anger after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) sold 74,04,932 shares held by Mallya in the United Breweries Holdings (UBHL) Limited.?

BCCL/FILE

The shares which were attached by the agency on the orders of the Bengaluru-based Debt Recovery Tribunal for Rs 1008 crore, ED said on Wednesday.?

The shares were originally pledged by Mallya to Yes Bank as security against a loan taken by his defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

BCCL/ FILE

“Based on the submissions made and proactive steps taken by the ED, and in view of the large outstanding debts of the SBI consortium against Kingfisher Airlines and Vijay Mallya, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PLMA) special court allowed the sale of shares on Tuesday. Subsequently, shares were sold by the Recovery Officer today and an amount of ?1,008 crore has been realised,” the agency said.

Soon after this, Mallya took to Twitter to play the victim card and accused the banks of "branding me a thief who stole PSU Bank money and ran away."

He also claimed that the shares attached on Tuesday and other assets attached so far were part of his settlement proposal to the banks.

"Damned if you do and Damned if you don’t is how I am treated," he said.

Mallya's meltdown comes just a few days after Mallya accused the government and PSU banks of not helping his Kingfisher Airlines the way they bailed out cash-strapped Jet Airways.

AFP/FILE

He had even gone on to claim that he had placed liquid assets before the Karnataka High Court to pay off the PSU Banks and all other creditors and asked the banks to take his money and Jet Airways.

Mallya who owes over Rs 9,000 crore to a consortium of bankers was declared “fugitive” under the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act by a? special court in Mumbai earlier this year.

The 63-year-old who fled India in March 2016 had been fighting tooth and nail to avoid extradition from the UK.

After losing a court battle against his extradition to India, Mallya has filed one last appeal in the UK.