Sharad Pawar’s advice to Vijay Mallya: Come back, face Indian courts

Sharad Pawar at Off The Cuff in Mumbai | ThePrint.in

Banks did not want to settle with Vijay Mallya because of the perception issue, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had said at ‘Off The Cuff’ last year.

New Delhi: Fugitive business tycoon Vijay Mallya Wednesday claimed that he had “met the finance minister” before leaving the country in 2016, a remark that Arun Jaitley called “factually false”.

Mallya, who is currently in London, is accused of fraud and money laundering worth Rs 9,000 crore. A UK court will deliver its verdict on Mallya’s extradition to India on 10 December.

As the Mallya-Jaitley controversy plays out in media, here’s what Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar had to say about his “friend” (Vijay Mallya) at Off The Cuff in Pune last year. Pawar was in conversation with ThePrint Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta. Edited excerpts:

You have a friend — Vijay Mallya. Could he have avoided getting into this mess?

If you first say about friend, his father was a friend of mine, Vittal.

People say his father made money…

His father definitely made money, but Vijay has made much more than him…Vittal bought one of the first wineries in Baramati (Maharashtra).

So Vittal was in Baramati and he brought Vijay and he told me that “this young man has a vision; he’s hardworking” and he’ll earn much more than him. “The only difference between me and him is, if I will earn Rs 100, I will try to save at least Rs 70, and maximum Rs 30 I will spend. This young man, if you give him Rs 100, he will save 110”. That was the description of Vijay by his own father.

But I have seen Vijay. He’s definitely a visionary. He expanded his company. He was coming to us for permission — me and Praful Patel, the then civil aviation minister. He was eager to start his airline (Kingfisher) and both of us were telling him, “Don’t do this, definitely you’ll lose, your entire setup will get affected.” But he said, “I’ll show”. And ultimately I also requested Praful, “Baba de do”. And then he cleared.

And he (Mallya) set up one of the best airlines, no doubt about that. But the economics was not correct. That’s why he lost ultimately.

And another wrong he had done and I was telling him again and again, was that he was in Parliament at that time. I was telling him to pay his staff. His workers were without payment for one year, two years. I said, “This is not correct. You pay.” And unfortunately he has not honoured that and that’s why he invited lots of trouble.

So what’s his future now?

I don’t know. It’s a bigger matter.

Would you have advised for it?

In fact, I had a detailed meeting with him long back, when he was in Parliament, and his liability was somewhere near Rs 8,000 crore. And his suggestion was — he was ready to sit across the table with bankers for settlement. He brought a big list of…companies with which banks made settlements of 50 per cent or 60 per cent. His complaint was that this approach was not taken in his case.

So I asked one of the bankers, “Why are you not resolving his problem? You have resolved the issues of X, Y and Z. Why don’t you apply the same principle to Vijay Mallya?”

He said that there’s a vast difference between others and Mallya…

He said, “It’s the question of perception. If any concession is given to Mallya, definitely there will be criticism on us”.

Perception because of his lifestyle?

Because of his lifestyle. Beyond that, nothing. His calendar…his calendar girls…

So since you have known him since he was a child, what would you advise him to do now?

Come back to India, face the Indian court. If you are capable of resolving this financial problem, do resolve it, and don’t keep away from your own nation.