 "Bank Staffers' body wants parliamentary probe on Kingfisher issue")
In a statement issued today, the association urged the government to order extradition and force a trial on Vijay Mallya, if he had indeed moved out to the United Kingdom.
"It is shocking and a matter of dismay that the Government has informed the Supreme Court that Vijay Mallya has already fled to UK when nearly Rs 10,000 crore of loan is due by him to the Banks in India. It is not a sudden development that Kingfisher Airlines is a defaulter. For the past few years, the issue is going on," stated the association.
It maintained that banks did not even declare him a willful defaulter. "It is reported that while sanctioning the loan, the brand value of Kingfisher was taken. How it was valued and what happened to the brand value now? What is the banking principle involved in sanctioning a loan based on brand value? When RBI knew that there was a case of deliberate default, why no serious action was taken so far," it added.
Pointing out a remark by the CBI director that no follow up action was taken by the Banks though a suo motto case was initiated by the agency earlier, C H Venkatachalam, general secretary of the association said, "AIBEA has been demanding to declare willful default as criminal offence but it is not clear why RBI and government are soft on this suggestion".
"If Mallya has fled to UK, Government should now order extradition and force a trial," stated the association. "The whole episode is murky and a thorough parliamentary probe is essential to make public how the loan was processed and sanctioned by Banks, the role of RBI and why timely action was not taken to recover the bad loan." it added.
The association has also extended support to the two day strike called for by United Forum of RRB Unions in all the 56 Regional Rural Banks on March 10 and 11, 2016 on demands including against the move to privatise RRBs and demanding withdrawal of license given to payment and small banks, among other demands.