New Delhi, June 6 -- Chief of the defunct Kingfisher Airlines, Vijay Mallya, who is facing trial for alleged fraud and money laundering amounting to Rs.9,000 crore, sat down for a candid four-hour conversation with podcaster Raj Shamani. Released on Thursday, the episode featured Mallya opening up about the downfall of Kingfisher Airlines, attributing its collapse largely to the 2008 global financial crisis.

Speaking about the period, Mallya said, "So agreed then it worked in your favour till 2008. What happened then? Simple. You ever heard of Lehman Brothers? You ever heard of the global financial crisis, right? Did it not impact India? Of course, it did."

He elaborated that the crisis had a widespread impact across all sectors, not ju...