Arrest warrant issued for Force India chief Vijay Mallya

[Matthew77258]

Force India's billionaire team owner Vijay Mallya has had an arrest warrant issued against him by the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, according to reports in the Indian press and AFP news agency.

The warrant, which is non-bailable, relates to bounced cheques Mallya's Kingfisher airline issued to the operator of Hyderabad International Airport.

The cheques, for a reported $2million, were meant to settle user fees at the airport.

"The cases were listed today for the airline to appear in the court," a spokesman for the complainant is quoted as saying by AFP.

"Since they failed to appear before the magistrate, the court has ordered issuance of NBW (non-bailable warrants) against Kingfisher Airlines (KFA), Vijay Mallya and four other KFA officials."

The arrest warrant is the latest in a string of financial setbacks for Kingfisher, which is reported to have debts in the billions.

The airline has failed to generate a profit since its launch in 2005. It has grounded its fleet for the past two weeks.

AFP added that Hyderabad police chief Anurag Sharma had not yet received the warrant.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/103355

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

I know nothing of Indian law but I'm guessing they have the right to seize his assets, including 2x VJM05, something similar happened to BAR in France a few years ago I seem to remember.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I know nothing of Indian law but I'm guessing they have the right to seize his assets, including 2x VJM05,

I doubt it. For two reasons:

First of all, this is a criminal case, not a banruptcy hearing. It depends on the nature of the local laws, but as far as I'm aware, criminal courts generally do not seize assets for a case like this. If those assets are the proceeds of a crime (and therefore evidence), they can be seized, but it is far more likely that the courts will go for a conviction and a fine - if not jail time - in which case they could reasonably have Kingfisher put into voluntary administration.

Secondly, even if the courts could seize Mallya's assets to pay off his debts, they would not go after the Force India team. The reason for this is that the courts go for a speedy resolution, which means they will target the most liquid assets first - the assets that can easily be turned into cash. A Formula 1 car, while being an asset, is not liquid. It cannot be turned into money with any ease, and there are plenty of other assets in Mallya's name that could be liquidated and used to cover his debts.

The real threat to Force India comes from the FIA. In the wake of the Singapore race-fixing scandal, the FIA looked at - and possibly enacted - introducing licences for team owners as a way of guaranteeing that only people of sound character own the teams. Premiership football uses a similar system. If Mallya was convicted or failed to go to the Indian Grand Prix so as to avoid arrest, the FIA could use that to suspend his running of the team and force its sale.

something similar happened to BAR in France a few years ago I seem to remember.

The closest thing I can find is Andy Soucek's injunction against former GP2 team Coloni over a contractual dispute. He had the Belgian courts issue an injunction that impounded Coloni's cars for the weekend of the Belgian Grand Prix.

 

[Furinkazen]

I know nothing of Indian law but I'm guessing they have the right to seize his assets, including 2x VJM05, something similar happened to BAR in France a few years ago I seem to remember.

Was that not Arrows, not BAR?

 

[Matthew77258]

The Arrest warrant has been dropped.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/103505

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

Was that not Arrows, not BAR?

I'm not sure about Arrows but it definitely happened to BAR http://m.espn.go.com/general/story?storyId=1576536&wjb=