I’m no absconder, says Kingfisher beer tycoon hunted over $1.4bn debt

The billionaire behind Kingfisher beer has denied fleeing abroad to escape creditors circling to recover more than $1 billion owed by his collapsed airline. Entrepreneur Vijay Mallya, who is also an MP, left India last week but insisted he was not an absconder and respected the law of the land. More than a dozen banks – led by the country’s biggest, State Bank of India – had appealed to the country’s Supreme Court asking that he be prevented from leaving.

I am an international businessman. I travel to and from India frequently. I did not flee from India and neither am I an absconder.

Vijay Mallya

Mallya, a guarantor to the Kingfisher Airlines debt, is in Britain and have said that he could be staying in a luxury residence in Hertfordshire, north of London. The brewing tycoon, who made his fortune from Kingfisher beer, did not mention his location in his tweets. He also railed against what he called a media witch-hunt. Kingfisher, once India’s second-biggest airline, stopped flying in October 2012, leaving creditors, suppliers and employees unpaid. It owed banks $1.4 billion at the end of November.

Who would ever want to run with a label called Kingfisher Airlines?

Vijay Mallya

vijay mallya