Emails Show UPA-II Secretary May Have Helped Mallya Get Loans

Former Union finance minister P Chidambaram’s name also allegedly figures in the emails.

Vijay Mallya and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. (Photo: The Quint)

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday alleged that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh helped industrialist Vijay Mallya get huge loans to bail out Kingfisher Airlines.

Documents have come to light which show that a joint secretary during UPA-II, Amitabh Verma, helped Mallya get loans from banks which could have helped the ailing airline.

Emails exchanged between the two reveal meetings were set up with chairpersons of various banks, as CNN-News18 reported.

Banks like Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda were involved in the meetings and disbursement of loans.

Oriental Bank of Commerce was asked to give Rs 200 crore to Mallya while UCO committed another Rs 300 crore.

Responding to the allegations, Manmohan Singh said:

All governments receive representations from various captains of any industry which is passed onto an appropriate authority. What I did was with full satisfaction of mine that we were not doing anything against the law of the land. It was a normal routine transaction and therefore the letter that’s being talked about is nothing but an ordinary piece of letter that any other government in my position would have dealt with.

Former Union Minister of Finance, P Chidambaram, whose name also figures in the mail trail, clarified that the loans were given in 2009 when he was not the finance minister.

The letter talks about United Breweries which is currently thriving. The letter talks about share and equity, not loans. You should keep distinctions between United breweries and Kingfisher and loans and shares in mind.

Citing emails and letters allegedly written by Mallya to Singh, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said:

A bailout package was given to Kingfisher Airlines on Manmohan Singh’s insistence. Not only that, only on the former Prime Minister’s insistence the Income Tax Department was soft on Mallya and his accounts were also unfrozen.

"The often-asked question has been why Mallya was given a loan of Rs 9,000 crore despite very poor rating of the company; their accounts not being in order. Were there certain hands pulling the strings from behind?" Patra said.

We have certain emails, letters and correspondence that will expose these hands. Again and again, this kind indulgence of the then PM was sought by Mallya.

Sambit Patra, BJP Spokesperson

In the emails, Mallya purportedly thanks the then Prime Minister for sparing time to talk to him. He also allegedly mentions that the then principal secretary TKA Nair had spoken to the aviation and petroleum ministries to help the airline, CNN News18 reported.

Responding to the report, Nair said:

I don’t remember anything. This thing may or may not have happened. I have not seen anything and can’t comment on it.

Earlier, a source close to the former PMO responded to CNN News18’s queries and said that the government always tries to bail out troubled companies. “No favour was given to Mallya. No funds were given, it was only preferential allotment,” the source said.

(With inputs from IANS and CNN News18)