Force India F1 boss (and India’s representative on the FIA World Motor Sport Council) Vijay Mallya was arrested this morning in England and will soon appear in Westminster Magistrates’ court.
In February India’s Ministry of External Affairs sent an extradition request to the British Home Office and this was endorsed by the Home Secretary and sent on to Westminster Magistrates’ Court. It is believed that Mallay’s name was one of
nearly 20 on a list that the Indians requested as part of discussions over possible future trade deals, in the wake of Brexit. The British are desperate to find some big trading partners and so handing over a few fugitives is a small price to pay in the circumstances.
The charges against Mallya in India relate to his defaulting on loans of $1.4
billion. Mallya is currently stuck in the UK without a passport as his Indian passport has been cancelled and he is unableto hold another unless he revokes his Indian citizenship. He must also find a country willing to issue him a new passport. He was recently removed as the chairman of the Federation of
Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) but continues to be India’s representative
on the FIA World Motor Sport Council, although he cannot attend meetings.
Force India is a team that effectively runs itself these days but Mallya has been required to raise money when that is required. His arrest, if confirmed, will be an embarrassment for the sport. The word is that the team is for sale but that the owners (Mallya and his trouble partner Subrata Roy of Sahara) want $250 million for the business. It is highly unlikely that anyone will pay that price. The adverse publicity will make it harder for the team to be sold and to find sponsorship. The team is funded largely with prize money, but recently sold a $15 million sponsorship deal to Austrian water treatment company BWT.
joeblogsf1 
Paging Mr Dennis…
$250 million for a “business” that generates zero free cash flow to shareholders, and never will, no in fact which requires periodic capital infusions from shareholders. OK, sure. This is not a business, it’s a license for a permanent F1 paddock hard card.
This is good news, maybe his staff that went unpaid for months will get justice.
Finally….
Deep Poo & water treatment joke pending
Mallya won’t be on the next flight to India. If this is like similar extradition cases, it will drag on for months in the UK courts and cost us a fortune in legal aid. When he finally returns to India, he’ll spend a month in jug and be back here within a week of getting out.
In the meantime, Bernie will buy FI, just to wind up LM.
Bernie never buys anything.
Ok, ‘Rescue, out of the goodness of his heart’. Did I get it right?
perhaps he will get a 5 year penalty
End of the road for Mallya.
Seems so, he has been bailed and is at home. Next hearing on 17th May just after Spanish GP weekend.
It will be a long process
As someone with first hand experience of Westminster Magistrates Court and extraditions (on the losing side as well) … indeed it will be a long, expensive process, which I guess will end up at the High Court – when it gets to that stage, Mr Mallya should be booking his plane ticket for a fortnight later.
It’s going to be sad news for F1, Force India have done amazing things given their resources and if there was a serious contender out there to buy and maintain the team at that level I think they’d already be in F1. It’s a great team with good heritage but I fear it’ll be finished now.
We can’t let criminals go free to save F1 teams but when you look at the dismal state of the sport and the funding gap Force India have to teams above (and BELOW them) they’ve done amazing things IMO.
Let’s hope someone picks it up but who has entered the sport and made a real go of it in the last couple of decades apart from Mercedes and Red Bull? I can only think of Force India and Haas and the longevity of Hass is still in question.
Doesn’t Marchione have designs on entering an Alfa Romeo team?
In theory he does
Can’t he just ‘pay the fine’ like our friend, Mr. Ecclestone once did, to keep out of the slammer?
If he had any cash….
Mallya offered to pay a fine of 550 million something…Was not accepted by the banksters and Indian government.
I’ll tell my bank manager that I will pay less than hour what I owe the bank. That’s a good plan…
English law doesn’t work like that. His lawyers will though be able to drag the case out for a good few months before a decision is reached.
Probably longer than that
Let’s not forget that the city of London is de facto the financial center of the world; and where a lot of dodgy money has end up over the years. From Russian oligarchs to Portuguese corrupt business man, the U.K. is not the best example when it comes to prosecuting financial crimes committed abroad. It actually comes across as a place to go if you are no longer welcomed by your country of origin. No wonder it’s where Mallya end up, India must have a really strong case to go ahead. Or Mallya pissed of the wrong people in the UK.
The only country outside the UK which Mr Mallya appears to have been free to visit following his difficulties in India has been Barbados, which he told me last year he has visited ‘several times.’ As revealed in GP+, in early 2016 he acquired control (in the name of his son) of the Barbados Tridents, a cricket team which plays in the Caribbean Premier League.
The Bajans seem to be more welcoming to the Mallyas than the fiscal authorities in his own country. Could it be significant that Barbados has (shall we say) a more relaxed attitude towards extradition requests than the UK?
But he does not have a passport to legally depart UK
Maybe he will buy one from a neighbouring country.
For US$250K, you can buy a passport for Grenada or St. Kitts & Nevis.
He does not have to go there, live there or even have an interview.
Easy!!!
But what’s to become of Force India now? Surely they’ll have to find new owners as quickly as possible. Are there any safeguards to prevent them ending up like Manor?
Maybe Eddie Jordan or Ron Dennis will buy it?
Maybe the Pope will became a pole vaulter…
That would raise the bar…………
Could happen
After hearing Billy Connolly tell this classic Chic Murray joke, think of it every time I see the words pole vaulter.
I met this chap at the Olympics. I said to him, “Excuse me but are you a pole vaulter?”, he replied,”No, I’m German, but how did you know my name was Walter.”
A bit extreme of Theresa May to call a general election to push this down the news agenda.
Perhaps one and only good thing that may come from the Brexit?
I some how think that if he looses the extradition process it will have proved so long, exhausting and stressful to him that someone from the medical profession will come forward and declare him unfit to travel.
What is the offence for which he is sought in India?
Extradition from the UK to India requires “dual criminality” – since defaulting on a loan is not an offence in the UK, could he yet dodge this bullet?
$15m for the recolouring and branding by BWT – seems cheap and puts the past Mclaren (Ron Dennis) title sponsorship demands in perspective.
The man is vile.
He’s squandered the family fortune and effectively ripped off a lot of people to fund a play boy life style whilst always trying to project a image of a man of the people.
Quite frankly the man epitomises everything that’s wrong with certain sections of society.
I truly believe that the UK legal system will work extra hard to speed things up for this clown. Either that or they’ll hi e him a knighthood.