After fugitive liquor baron Vijay Mallya claimed he had met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley before leaving India, the Opposition parties on Wednesday demanded a probe into Mallya’s allegations. In a tweet to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi said an independent probe should immediately be ordered into Mallya's "extremely serious allegations".
Slamming the Centre over Mallya’s claims, Rahul Gandhi also said Jaitley should step down while the investigation is underway.
In its attack, the Congress also demanded explanation on how and why Mallya was allowed to leave India.
Claims made by Vijay Mallya were however, refuted by the finance minister, who referred to it as “factually false.” Jaitley said he never gave Mallya an appointment after becoming a minister in 2014, but the liquor baron misused his position as an MP to accost him once in Parliament.
Mallya however, later said it was not a "formal meeting" and he only "happened to meet" the minister, when he told him he was going to London.
The government was "fully complicit" in the flight of Mallya and Punjab National Bank fraud accused Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi from India, said Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi.
“Everybody was complacent and everybody was aware... Whether it was - a casual meeting or a structured meeting. We need proper disclosures, full inquiries on this," he said.
Singhvi further asked as to why no actions were taken against Mallya before he fled the country.
Launching an attack on the Centre, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said Modi government "enables big defaulters to loot public money and scoot", which was evident in Mallya's escape.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said the entire NDA government was "hand in glove" with scamsters and absconders.
"They hatched a plot to loot hundreds of thousands of crores. PM and FM must respond on this," Yadav said in a tweet.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal slammed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over Mallya’s claims and asked, “why did the finance minister hide this information till now?"
Vijay Mallya is fighting numerous lawsuits in the UK and back home over fraud and money-laundering allegations as well as an extradition to India.
Talking to reporters outside a London court, Mallya said, “I left because I had a scheduled meeting in Geneva. I met the Finance Minister before I left, repeated my offer to settle with the banks. That is the truth."
The verdict in the extradition case will be announced on December 10.
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