Nitin Gadkari Defends Fugitive 'Vijay Mallyaji', Says It Is Unfair To Call Him A Fraud

Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari has put the Modi government in an embarrassing situation after he appears to have defended fugitive business tycoon Vijay Mallya, who is wanted in India for a number of cases including loan default.

Speaking at the Times Network India Economic Conclave in Mumbai on Thursday, Gadkari suggested that it was unfair to call Mallya a fraud because he defaulted on loan payments once.

BCCL/FILE

¡°Chalis saal Mallya regular payment kar raha tha, byaaj bhar raha tha...40 saal baad jab wo aviation mein gaya....Uske baad wo adchan mein aaya to wo ekdum chor ho gaya?...Jo pachaas saal byaaj bharta hai wo theek hai, par ek baar wo default ho gaya to turant fraud ho gaya? Ye maansikta theek nahi hai,¡± Gadkari said. (Mallya paid his dues and interests regularly for 40 years. After that, he entered aviation and faced hurdles. Does that make him a thief? It¡¯s fine when a person pays his dues for 50 years ... he defaults once and he becomes a fraud? This mindset is not right.)

The minister also went on to claim that Mallya's business suffered setback due to global recession and if we label someone facing a hurdle a fraud, our economy will not progress

"Everyone has the right to make one mistake, but that mistake should be bona fide,¡± he said adding that our approach that every man is a thief, shouldn¡¯t be there.

BCCL/FILE

Gadkari who began his speech saying "I have nothing to do with business tycoon however said that if Nirav Modi or Vijay Mallyaji has committed (financial) fraud then they should be sent to jail.

Gadkari's remarks, which are not likely to be used by the opposition to target the government came days after Indian authorities successfully fought a lengthy legal battle in a UK court to get Mallya extradited.

Reuters

The former liquor baron had fled India in 2016 to avoid being arrested in the nearly Rs 9,000 crore loan repayments he had defaulted.

Once called as the King of Good Times, Mallya's financial troubles began with his highly ambitious aviation dream. Kingfisher Airline, for which all the loans were taken never made profit and was incurring huge operational loses until it became defunct.