Not just Arun Jaitley, entire BJP must come clean on ties with Vijay Mallya: Yashwant Sinha

Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday said that not just Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, but the entire Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) must come clean on its relationship with absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya.

Taking to microblogging site Twitter, Yashwant Sinha said, “Not only the finance minister, the entire BJP must come clean on its relations with Vijay Mallya.”

Not only the finance minister, the entire BJP must come clean on its relations with Vijay Mallya. — Yashwant Sinha (@YashwantSinha) September 12, 2018

The fresh attack by Sinha on the BJP came hours after Mallya told mediapersons outside London’s Westminster magistrate’s court on Wednesday that he had met Finance Minister Jaitley before leaving India.

“I met the finance minster to settle matters before I left. The banks had filed objections to my settlement letters,” said Mallya. “I obviously don't agree with what the prosecution is alleging. let the court decide,” he added.

"As far as I am concerned, I have made a comprehensive settlement offer before the Karnataka High Court. I hope the honourable judges will consider it favourably; everybody gets paid off and I guess that's the primary objective," Mallya further said. He is fighting extradition to India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs 9,000 crore.

Finance Minister Jaitley, however, dismissed Mallya’s claims, calling them factually false. “The statement is factually false in as much as it does not reflect the truth. Since 2014, I've never given him any appointment to meet me and the question of his having met me does not arise,” said Jaitley, adding that Mallya misused his position as a Rajya Sabha member.

“Vijay Mallya "misused" privilege of being Rajya Sabha MP to catch me in the corridors of Parliament on one occasion while he was walking out of the House to go to his room,” said the Union Finance Minister.