by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Why did you let Vijay Mallya escape even though he never paid back the nine thousand crore rupees he owed the banks, thundered Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi ? "You began it all", BJP finance minister Arun Jaitley reminded him, "when your government allowed Ottavio Quattrocchi to flee the country". Jaitley then softened his tone and explained to the younger Congress leader that the act of the Gandhi family-friend in 1993 had come at a time when the Swiss authorities named Quattrocchi as a recipient of the Bofors slush money. The CBI had even written to the then (Congress) government to impound his passport. "That makes Quattrocchi's escape a criminal act", Jaitley went on to pontificate. Mallya's case falls in a different category, he argued. He said neither the lending banks had demanded that he be prevented from flying out nor was there any request from the Enforcement Directorate, investigating possible money laundering cases against Mallya, to desist him from leaving the country. It's a different matter that the CBI had to apologize for its own folly in the case later in a press statement.
At one level, the seemingly heated exchange between the two prominent leaders, both No.2 of the two leading parties, is a testament to a new low level in politics. The story of Quattrocchi's escape to Malaysia, on 29 July 1993, is a parable of Congress' double-speak. But Mallya's hurried departure does not cover the BJP in glory either. The owner of now-grounded Kingfisher Airlines is still a Rajya Sabha member with joint support of JD(S) and BJP. It is an undeniable fact that Congress was in power when a consortium of state-owned banks and some private banks went out of their way to finance Mallya's airline business. And none other than Pranab Mukherjee, now the President of India, was in charge of the finance ministry when Mallya's debts on account of the airline were restructured. But there is hardly any parliamentary record to indicate that BJP, then in the opposition, indeed raised the subject of such a high-risk restructuring of loans. And now that the sordid saga of PSU banks is out in the open (see Lokmat Times, Feb. 23, 2016) and the State Bank of India has declared Mallya "wilful defaulter", the 'friends of Mallya' in the ruling camp just made sure that the official alerts issued against him are diluted to only informing the CBI and not restraining him to leave the country.
Mallya drew widespread media attention because of his flashy lifestyle, complete with a country house in England, private yacht and a bevy of well-shaped women. However, Mallya is neither the first nor the last wilful defaulter, nor is he the largest. In October last, Credit Suisse, a Switzerland-based financial services company, came out with a document titled House of Debt which is about the top 10 most heavily indebted Indian corporates.
It is a fact that none of them is as brazen as Mallya in showing off their (borrowed and unpaid) wealth. But the unchanging truth about India's 'super-rich' narrative is that the road to fame as billionaire is paved with borrowed cash. This cash in turn is put to use for buying politicians' support and bureaucrats' acquiescence. Whatever may be the pressures, it was primarily the banker's task to keep track of the risk in ever-greening loans of the top 10 corporate borrowers. Such lapses cannot emanate from a bank manager's desk. These are coordinated from the highest level. And, except the antics over Mallya's dramatic departure with seven large suitcases, nobody is raising questions about the other bleeding accounts. It's a silence typical of India. Rather a chorus has now begun that banks shouldn't go after big ticket borrowers or else it will destroy the economy. Clean up the bank books, but don't touch the super rich club !
And that brings back to memory Narendra Modi's ringing words before the 2014 general elections that made him Prime Minister. "Neither will I eat (meaning the fruits of corruption), nor will I let others eat, and I shall catch hold of those who ate under Congress rule and make them vomit". Surprisingly, after coming to power, Modi's BJP treats corruption like Victorians handled sex, with kid-gloves. So whistleblowers of the past are being given plum posts where silence is mandatory. Thus, Vinod Rai, the CAG who made headlines for two years by questioning every allocation decision of the UPA government, be it 2G spectrum or coal, all of which became Modi's campaign ammo, has now been made the first chairman of Banks Boards Bureau. And what about making Congress beneficiaries "vomit"? Two years ago, Modi went to town on every detail appearing in the media about Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra. But no charges have been framed against him till now, despite BJP coming to power in Haryana and Rajasthan, the states where Vadra's controversial property transaction had reportedly taken place.
It needs no special knowledge of ethics to identify the fountainhead of every corruption. It is discretionary power of the executive. Before election, Modi’s mantra was “minimalist government”. But his government has refused to bring down its stake in PSU banks below 51 per cent (except 49 per cent in IDBI Bank). Nor will the government sell its aviation behemoth, Air India, which has Rs 40,000 crore bank debt and is losing cash faster than its jets. Is NDA’s civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapati Raju any better than the “king of good times”?
(The author is National Editor, Lokmat group)
