India¡¯s liquor czar Vijay Mallya was arrested and got bail within three hours in ?London where he has been living since?fled India last year. ?Mallya has to pay a whopping 9,000 crore of loan taken from different banks in India over a period 11 years.
Though it¡¯s yet to be seen what steps does India take now to extradite Mallya and whether he will ever replay his loans, it¡¯s quite certain that his arrest in London has given India another opportunity to flex its diplomatic clout and seek the fugitive¡¯s extradition.
AFP
Here is a timeline of the Vijay Mallya episode and how the loans he took to run his white elephant aka Kingfisher airlines landed him in trouble so big that he had to flee the country:
Chairman of the United Breweries (Holdings) Limited Vijay Mallya establishes Kingfisher Airlines. The airlines is slated to be a premium, state-of-the-art, world-class brand.
In 2006, Kingfisher Airlines approached IDBI bank for a loan for the purchase of aircrafts, but Mallya poor record with IDBI with regards to his Mangalore Chemicals resulted in IDBI rejecting his loan request. However, he approached other banks and managed to get a loan.
Kingfisher was going fine which prompted Mallya to acquire almost collapsed Air Deccan which proved fatal for Kingfisher.
United Breweries Limited paid Rs 550 crore for a 26 per cent stake in Air Deccan. In March 2008, Kingfisher Airlines owed a debt of Rs. 934 crores ¨C due to a heightened spike in oil prices and the stress of working for a high-cost and low-cost airline company together. However, in September 2008, Kingfisher started taking journey overseas between Bengaluru and London.?
AFP
Kingfisher airlines now owes a debt of Rs. 5,665 crores, which grows into Rs 7,000 crores. Kingfisher Airlines continues to enjoy popularity. The IDBI changes its mind and decides to provide a loan of Rs 900 crore to the airlines.
In 2010, banks informed the airlines that it need to payback in nine months, but Mallya who was Member of Parliament by then didn¡¯t give heed to the deadline.
?Mallya withdrew a large sum of money ¡ª ?Rs. 33.46 crore for each respective year ¡ª from Kingfisher Airlines as salary. Kingfisher Airlines¡¯ license to operate got confiscated which led to non-payment to employees. By March 2016, the Airlines owed Rs 3000 crore to 3000 employees in terms of salary. It also owed banks such as SBI and IDBI a colossal sum of US $1 billion as a?loan.
PTI
In March 2013, the airlines¡¯ net worth fell to a negative of Rs 12, 919 crore. Consortium of banks approached Mallya for the payment of Rs. 6,493 crore in loans for Kingfisher Airlines. Mallya assured that a large portion of the loan will be settled soon.
United Bank of India announces Mallya a ¡®wilful defaulter¡¯. Other banks like SBI and PNB follow suit.
In November 2015, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley informed that the airlines¡¯ debts have reached ?Rs. 9,091.40 crore. In April 2015, Mumbai International Airport Private Limited sells Mallya¡¯s personal aircraft to recover funds. It was sold for Rs. 22 lakhs. The Service Tax Department held the airlines accountable for a non-payment of Rs. 115 crore. The Department approaches Bombay High Court to seize Mallya¡¯s passport, forcing him to appear in court.?
In February 2016, Mallya was asked by the board at United Spirits Limited to step down. By March, banks snipped that he might flee the country and syndicate of banks approached SC to put a ban on Mallya leaving the country. Mallaya, however, had already left the country, taking refuge near London.
Anna Aero
A special magistrate court in Hyderabad issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Mallya for not appearing in court for a slew of pending cases. In April, The ED approached a special court in Mumbai to issue another non-bailable warrant under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.?