Vijay Mallya, who fled to London after defaulting to banks, today lashed out at his critics and told he is ready to payback Indian Banks. He responded through UK based media agencies.

As per his new statement, Mallya is ready to repay dues worth Rs 13,000 crore that he owes to Indian banks. He reminded that he wrote letters to both PM Narendra Modi and the Finance Minister in 2016 but he said, he never received any response to his letters. He added, “I have become a poster boy of bank default and a lightning rod of public anger”. He criticized the government, “I respectfully submit that this is a clear example of politically motivated abuse of power with no legal basis whatsoever and raises a fundamental question on whether the government wants me to repay public sector banks or not.” He also blamed Enforcement Directorate for misusing their power in this case. He argued, “I am tired of this relentless pursuit of me by the government and his criminal agencies. All my efforts are either ignored or misunderstood. Recovery of loans is a civil matter which has been criminalized in my case.”

One thing is clear. As long as ED and government agencies were dealing with Mallya under PMLA (Prevention of Money laundering Act), he didn’t care. Because, under PMLA, ED can seize the properties only after trial is over, which may take several years. Now ED has requested courts to declare Mallya a fugitive under a new law to recover dues. If that happens, ED can immediately confiscate his properties. It seems, only because of this ED’s request to court, Mallya has now announced he is ready to payback