Making a sensational claim, embattled liquor baron Vijay Mallya Wednesday said that he had met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and offered to settle his financial dues before leaving India. “I left because I had a scheduled meeting in Geneva. I met the finance minister before I left. Repeated my offer to settle with the banks. That’s the truth,” Mallya claimed while talking to reporters outside London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court, which is hearing his extradition case.
Mallya is currently facing charges of fraud and money laundering to the tune of around Rs 9,000 crore in India. Earlier in the day, he said he had made a “comprehensive settlement” offer before the Karnataka High Court that will help in paying off all his dues. 
Arun Jaitley was the Finance Minister in 2016 when Mallya left India. Responding to the charges, Jaitley said the Mallya’s statement is “factually false in as much as it does not reflect truth.”
“Since 2014, I have never given him any appointment to meet me and the question of his having met me does not arise. However, since he was a Member of Rajya Sabha and he occasionally attended the House, he misused that privilege on one occasion while I was walking out of the House to go to my room. He paced up to catch up with me and while walking uttered a sentence that ”I am making an offer of settlement,” Jaitley said on his Facebook page.