A political slugfest erupted both within and outside the Parliament on Thursday over liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s escape to london, with Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi accusing the Government of helping him run away and Finance Minister Jaitley raking up Bofors middleman Quattrocchi’s escape during Congress rule to counter him.
“When a poor man steals, he is beaten up and thrown into jail. Someone who does not have food to eat and steals a roti is beaten up and put behind bars and a big businessmen who steals Rs9,000 crore from country, you allow him to escape in First Class from the country. What is this happeningIJ
“We simply asked that someone who stole Rs9,000 crore from the country, how did he run away from the countryIJ How did you allow him to escapeIJ This is the simple question and we neither got a reply to this from Modiji nor from Jaitley ji. The question is why did your Government allow him to run away from the country,” Rahul told reporters.
Rejecting Rahul’s charge, Jaitley told reporters that late Quattrocchi, a Bofors case accused, had fled the country under the Congress Government watch in 1993. Raking up the Bofors case that had dogged Rajiv Gandhi Government and the Congress for years, Jaitely said, “Rahul ji should remember that there is a basic difference in Mallya leaving (the country) and Quattrochi going out (of India). And let me explain him the difference.
“When the officials of Switzerland informed that Quattrochi was also among the beneficiaries of Bofors and though the person who was heading the CBI investigation earlier K Madhavan wrote a letter that his passport should be impounded, the then Government had not stopped him and within two days he left India. That was a criminal case,” he said. Jaitley also said that by the time he (Mallya left), the banks had not initiated the legal process.
Raising the issue in the Rajya Sabha, leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad charged the Government with being “party to criminal conspiracy” in allowing Mallya to fly out of the country and urged the Supreme Court to take cognizance of it. However, leader of the House and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hit back and said the repeated loans were given to Mallya during UPA regime despite being declared Non Performing Assets (NPA).
Comparing Mallya’s escape with that of lalit Modi and the present regime’s inability to bring him back, Azad said the Government should have been alert and confiscated Mallya’s passport and arrested him.
Taking a dig, he said Mallya is “not a needle” and moves around with an entourage and therefore, how could he fly out despite a look-out notice issued by the CBI.
“My allegation is that this Government is party to this criminal conspiracy of allowing him to escape and leave the country. In this criminal conspiracy, this Government should be made party and the Supreme Court should take note of this. Without the participation and without the active support of this Government, he could not have left the country. That is my allegation,” he said.
Countering Azad’s allegations, Jaitley said the banks were asked to recover “every penny that is due,” adding that the first banking facility was given to Mallya and his companies in September 2004
As regards impounding Mallya’s passport, Jaitley said there was no order to stop him from leaving the country. “That day, there was no order of any agency to stop him (from leaving the country),” Jaitley said, adding Mallya had left the country before the banks moved the Supreme Court for seizure of his passport. Mallya had left the country on March 2.