Vijay Mallya has not been seen in an F1 paddock this year, which is no great surprise given the multiple problems he has in India, although he himself is not in India and seems less than keen to return. A consortium of banks that is pursuing him for money owed to them by various companies owned by Mallya has recently rejected two offers, the first to pay less than half of what they are owed, the second currently unclear. The banks said that in order to have any sensible negotiation with Mallya he needs to be in India. The banks also want him to declare all his assets both in India and abroad. He has already been ordered to give the court an amount of money that he can afford in order to prove his good intentions. He must reply to the court by April 21. He must also say whether he intends to be in court. Elsewhere he has failed to present himself (for a third time) to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and is trying to extend the deadline to May. The ED is investigating alleged money laundering in relation to a bank loan. It appears that Mallya does not have access to $40 million that Diageo paid in settlement to get him out of the role of chairman, as this is in a escrow account and will remain so until he signs away a number of privileges, which he is yet to do.
It is worth noting that Mallya’s name is included in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Panama Papers, through a company called Venture New Holding Limited – which has been operational since 2006. This is not linked to his other companies.
joeblogsf1 
F1 is now and really always has been home to a collection of dreamers, chancers and rogues. In a strange way it is part of its fascination.
Mallya is merely one more in along line of interesting, if questionable, characters, though it seems on an eye watering scale .
Some make good most come a cropper hopefully without too much damage to the overall show. Whilst we should probably be better off without him there are bigger fish that desperately need frying, and I do finally think we are getting somewhere.
Keep up the good work Joe and don’t be diverted by the attack on the manufacturers, the noise mat be a bit lacking but the show is generally above average.
Hopefully the mis-directed attack on practice is now dealt with, lets make sure there are no more damn fool ideas for augmenting inverted aeroplanes for next year.
Despite David Cameron’s (British PM) rhetoric before this blew up in his face, I’m still not clear if “offshore companies” per se, are illegal, in and of themselves.
Thank you for the continuing updates, Joe.
The difference between tax evasion (illegal) and tax avoidance (legal) is the reason for a billion pound industry. Very often the distinction boils down to “did you pursue this state of affairs purely to save on your tax bill or for other reasons”. If you can keep a straight enough face you get away with it.
As the exam question has it, did you learn the difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance from:
a) your father, or
b) your accountant, or
c) your cell-mate?
Joe, how much danger is the F1 team in regarding finances? Might we see them languish as the year progresses? I hope not, but with this snake, who knows.
They say that they are fine. But all teams always say that.
I wonder if his lawyers have started demanding cash upfront.
Slippery as an eel! As, seems likely, he goes down,then any idea what would happen to the team? Although, it may take ages to unravel all his dealings with that I suppose!
There’s an article today about the “Swindlers, liars, and fraudsters” (and I could add, weird-ohs) of F1,which features the likes of David Thieme, Jean-Pierre van Rossem, and Akira Akagi. Might we eventually see Vijay Mallya’s name added to said list updated?
Oh dear. It must be hard for him to keep a low profile too……
TK, When in India I asked a few guys what they thought of Vijay’s predicament. Most didn’t know who I was talking about and also knew little of F1. The one, hotel owner, who did said it it was ‘all a misunderstanding and Vijay will be cleared of all wrongdoing’! Indians!! KB
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Maybe he’s off consulting with Mossack Fonseca.
Go and join your buddy Mr Roy in India! I find it hilarious though closely following his Twitter and his newfound love for the West Indies cricket team… Leaves much to the imagination.
I was surprised to see the prime minister’s dad in the leaks. I don’t think anyone would have been surprised to discover Mallya squirrelling his dollars and rupees away in Panama. It is not (quite just yet) good for VW to be seen swanning around in F1 paddocks, with the current ‘difficulties’ in America. CVC doesn’t need this kind of stink around when they’re trying to cash in their F1 chips. And Mallya really can’t be seen playing with his expensive fast cars, if he is ever going home again. It doesn’t show Indian business or justice in a good light, when Mallya has been spinning plates and writing IOUs for so long. The current situation doesn’t help anyone, unless Diageo always wanted to pay over the odds for an F1 team. You have got to feel sorry for the FI team employees, who have consistently done a good job. F1 really does look to the world like a bit of a mess currently, and none of this helps.
I don’t expect Vijay to be at a GP this season. What will really be interesting is how things play out with Sauber.
With the F1 prize money figures being leaked last week I wondered if there was any chance that one or more of VJM’s alleged creditors would stake a claim to that money. That could of course have serious implications for The FI team.
Alleged creditors? You either are a creditor or you are not a creditor. There’s paperwork associated with these things
Sorry, I was trying to be polite. One thing I may have in common with Vijay is that as a shareholder in both Cairn Energy and Vodafone I would not trust the Indian Government who are very good at retrospectively changing their financial rules. For all I know Vijay may also have the odd bone to pick with them, though admittedly he seems to be steering clear of the picking zone for now!
I do hope that you are no longer receiving accusations of racism and personal vendettas against him.
Mr.Mallya is further ruining the “Indian face” in F1 that is already very scarce. Such shameful incidents, paired with no Indian GP, is surely killing F1 fans here in India.
Wish I had some bank balance to do something about that 😛
Isn’t it Spa where these things traditionally play out – something to do with a peculiarity of Belgian law?