NEW DELHI // India on Sunday revoked the passport of a flamboyant Indian businessman accused of fleeing to London in March while owing more than a billion dollars to Indian banks.
The decision to revoke Vijay Mallya’s passport was taken considering the evidence gathered by India’s enforcement directorate (ED), which has been investigating the tycoon’s massive debts, said external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup.
Mr Mallya, a part-owner of the Force India Formula 1 team who used to run Kingfisher Airlines, left India on March 2 despite calls for his arrest. He is believed to be in Britain.
The 60-year-old, once dubbed the “King of Good Times”, had his diplomatic passport suspended earlier this month after he failed to appear before India’s financial crimes agency in connection with the loan case.
The external affairs ministry was also consulting legal experts on seeking Mr Mallya’s deportation from the UK to face charges of money laundering and financial irregularities.
The opposition Congress party has accused the government of letting Mr Mallya flee India while being pursued by banks for debts totaling 90 billion rupees (Dh4.9bn). The government denies the charge.
India’s finance minister Arun Jaitley defended Mr Mallya’s departure, saying the banks had not initiated the legal process to prevent him from leaving by the time he boarded the flight out of India.
The ED told the government that Mr Mallya was not cooperating with the investigators, after he ignored three dates when he was summoned to give evidence to them.
Last week, the government issued an arrest warrant for Mr Mallya after he failed to appear for questioning and suspended the businessman’s passport, after giving him a week to explain why his passport should not be revoked.
The ED is looking into the finances of Kingfisher Airlines, which ceased operating in 2012 leaving millions of dollars in unpaid bills, including of salaries of workers.
The government was committed to bringing Mr Mallya back to India to face justice and was “considering steps for Mallya’s deportation”, Mr Swarup said on Friday.
Mr Mallya was once hailed as India’s version of British tycoon Richard Branson for his investments in a brewing and liquor company, an airline, a Formula One team and an Indian Premier League cricket club.
The tycoon inherited United Breweries Group (UBG) from his father at the age of 28 and turned it into one of the world’s largest liquor makers, hosting extravagant yacht parties with Bollywood stars and politicians along the way.
His profile rose further when he acquired a stake in the Force India F1 team and ownership of the Royal Challengers Bangalore cricket team.
The ED has reportedly accused him of siphoning off money from Kingfisher to buy property abroad -- a claim the company denies.
His downfall was triggered by the failure of Kingfisher Airlines, which he launched in 2005. The Indian government in 2012 suspended the license of the airline after it failed to pay pilots and engineers for months. He is being chased by a group of mostly state-run banks over $1.34 billion in unpaid loans made to the airline.
Mr Mallya is famous for a flashy lifestyle and lavish parties attended by fashion models, Bollywood movie stars and cricket players.
His massive debt has become a symbol of Indian banks’ vast volume of bad loans – those already in default or close to it – which are seen as a threat to financial stability in Asia’s third largest economy.
Critics say the government has not done enough to tackle the issue of wealthy individuals such as Mr Mallya, who obtain huge loans which they later fail to repay.
* Associated Press and Agence France-Presse
