Owner of collapsed airline denies fleeing India

A prominent Indian businessman, Vijay Mallya, has denied claims that he had fled India, as politicians traded recriminations over how he was able to fly to Britain unhindered.

Mr Mallya is under pressure from banks to repay more than $1bn owed by his collapsed airline,

His departure on March 2 has sparked uproar in India.

Questions centre on how Mr Mallya was allowed to leave after creditors of his failed Kingfisher Airlines had appealed to India’s Supreme Court to ensure he stayed in the country.

First look-out notice to Vijay Mallya issued by mistake: CBIhttps://t.co/3Q5O8M826Q pic.twitter.com/ZsC8FMbVuC

— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) March 11, 2016

“I did not flee from India and neither am I an absconder,” the 60-year-old businessman said in a series of posts on Twitter, adding that he would comply with domestic laws.

India’s financial crime-fighting agency, the Enforcement Directorate, has summoned Mr Mallya for questioning on March 18, a senior agency official said.

Mr Mallya, who built his business around the Kingfisher beer brand, and co-owns a Formula 1 racing team, said he travels to and from India frequently, and that he was the target of a media witch hunt.

Let media bosses not forget help, favours,accommodation that I have provided over several years which are documented. Now lies to gain TRP ?

— Vijay Mallya (@TheVijayMallya) March 10, 2016

Mr Mallya, who is also a member of the Indian parliament’s upper house, and was last seen in the chamber on March 1, didn’t disclose his location in the social media posts.

No formal legal warrant was issued against him, even as creditors sought to step up efforts to recover the $1.4 billion owed by Kingfisher Airlines, which stopped flying in October 2012.

India’s attorney general, representing more than a dozen creditors, told the Supreme Court this Wednesday that the tycoon was no longer in the country.

Opposition politicians have criticised prime minister Narendra Modi for presiding over a situation where Mr Mallya was allowed to leave the country, mocking Mr Modi’s election promise to bring back illicit “black money” stashed abroad.