Vijay Mallya, whose deportation has been sought by the government, flew to the UK on March 2. (File photo)
Highlights
- Mr Mallya in London since March 2, ignoring orders to return
- Owes over a billion dollars to 18 banks, passport cancelled last week
- Insists he is not absconding, because he has spoken via video-conference
, wanted in India for over a billion dollars in unpaid loans, must be deported, the India government has formally requested the UK today. The flamboyant entrepreneur, who is also being investigated for money-laundering, flew to London on March 2, and has ignored a series of orders to return to face investigators and banks.
Mr Mallya, 60, started Kingfisher Airlines in 2003, vowing to provide Indians luxury travel at affordable prices. By 2012, the carrier had collapsed in financial ruin.
Mr Mallya, who inherited a fortune from his father at 28 and added significantly to it largely on the basis of his best-selling Kingfisher beer, is
likely to be expelled as a member of Parliament next week; his
passport was cancelled just a few days ago.
"As of today, the ministry has written to the High Commission of the UK in Delhi requesting the deportation of Sri Vijay Mallya," Foreign Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said today, adding that India has not yet heard back from the British authorities.
It was only after banks asked the Supreme Court to stop him from leaving India that it emerged that Mr Mallya had flown first class to London last month. He insists that he is not absconding, because he has spoken via video-conference to a consortium of 18 banks on different occasions. They have rejected various options provided by him for repaying their loans, arguing that he must negotiate with them in person, and increase the amount he is willing to offer as a first installment towards clearing his debt.
Details of what Mr Mallya owns abroad - including
penthouses in the famous Trump Plaza in New York -
have been disclosed by the Supreme Court to banks.
The Enforcement Directorate is looking at whether Mr Mallya used part of a loan to purchase properties abroad, an allegation he has denied. A Mumbai court has issued an arrest warrant for him linked to this charge.
Separately, the CBI is determining why and how banks, many of them state-run, supplied large loans with virtually no cover to Mr Mallya's airline even after its financial crisis was in plain sight.