Taxman shoots down tycoon's flying machine: Mallya lists revival plan in letter to employees
Tax authorities have confiscated the Airbus A-319 luxury jet that Vijay Mallya, chiarman of grounded Kingfisher Airlines, was using exclusively for his personal trips.
Even after Kingfisher was grounded and over 4,000 employees had not been paid seven months' salary, Mallya still continued on whirlwind domestic and foreign tours using the jet, which was manned by a special crew which unlike others received salaries on time.
In a major embarrassment for the flamboyant industrialist, the aircraft was confiscated on December 21 by the Service Tax Department as Kingfisher had not passed on to the government Rs 190 crore collected from passengers as service tax.
Grounded: Kingfisher chief executive Vijay Mallya has had his private jet reclaimed by tax officers
On December 11, tax authorities had confiscated an ATR plane of the carrier for defaulting on tax dues. Four other planes of Kingfisher have also been taken back by US-based leasing company ILFC because of non-payment of lease rentals.
The airline owes Rs 190 crore in service tax dues, out of which it has contested the department's claim for Rs 127 crore in arrears.
A troubled Mallya on Thursday reached out to his employees through a personal letter assuring them that the management is willing to start operations again.
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He alleged in the letter that the media has continued their negative reporting on Kingfisher and urged the employees to stay clear of newspersons.
The letter came after employees on Wednesday threatened to file a petition in court under the Company's Act to wind up the carrier if the management does not share its revival plan with them.
Mallya's letter states, "We have submitted a detailed restart plan to the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) which is in two parts.
"The first part deals with a limited restart utilising seven aircraft and ramping up to 21 aircraft in four months.
"The second part is a full-scale rehabilitation of our airline growing to 57 aircraft within 12 months."
Though the letter did not mention any schedule of payment of dues, it stated that both plans contain detailed information on key assumptions and funding requirements, including payment of outstanding salaries to employees.
The management had promised the employees that their dues till June will be paid by December last year, and salaries from July to September by March 2013 after recapitalisation of the airline.
Kingfisher, whose flying licence expired on December 31 last year, had recently submitted a revival plan to the DGCA.
The aviation regulator, however, did not accept it and asked the carrier to furnish additional details.
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