Reminding Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi of the Bofors case and the escape of Ottavio Quattrocchi, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said the loans to liquor baron Vijay Mallya wer
Reminding Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi of the Bofors case and the escape of Ottavio Quattrocchi, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said the loans to liquor baron Vijay Mallya were given during the UPA rule. His comments came after Mr Gandhi sought to know how the NDA government allowed Mallya, who owes over Rs 9,000 crore to banks, to leave the country.
Taking a dig at Mr Gandhi, the Union minister underscored that the loans to Mr Mallya were given during the UPA rule and said that the Congress vice-president perhaps “could not understand” his answer which he had given in Rajya Sabha earlier during the day. He also advised Mr Gandhi to “study Constitution once” after the Opposition party questioned Mr Mallya’s continuance as member of Rajya Sabha. Mr Jaitley was addressing the media on the Cabinet meeting where he was also asked questions on Mr Mallya.
Debunking Mr Gandhi’s criticism on why Mr Mallya was not stopped from leaving the country, Mr Jaitley said, “There is a legal process to stop anybody. Either your passport has been impounded or there is any court order. Except that immigration cannot stop you.... Banks have gone to the Supreme Court to take an order and perhaps in the anticipation of that he (Mallya) left before.”
Training his guns on Mr Gandhi, Mr Jaitley said, “But Rahulji should remember that there is a basic difference in Mr Mallya leaving (the country) and Quattrocchi going out (of India). And let me explain him the difference ....When the officials of Switzerland informed that Quattrocchi 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.”
Stressing that there is a difference between the two incidents, Mr Jaitley said that by the time Mr Mallya left, the banks had not initiated the legal process.
When told that Mr Gandhi accused him of not answering his questions, Mr Jaitley said, “I had given dates in Parliament that all these loans were sanctioned in 2004 and 2007. In 2009, they became NPA and even after becoming NPA, it was restructured in 2010... If Rahul Gandhi could not understand these dates and what I meant to say through them, you please help him understand this.”
When asked about Congress questioning how Mr Mallya remains a member in Rajya Sabha even after the issuance of a look out notice against him, the minister said, “There is a constitutional process to suspend the membership. If he (Rahul) studies Constitution once... It can happen only according to that. Membership is not terminated through press conferences.”
Earlier, Mr Gandhi had said, “We asked Mr Jaitley to tell us how Mr Mallya ran away from India. If there is action against him and a lookout notice has been issued against him, then what is he doing in Rajya Sabha.”
