Mallya Charged With Money Laundering Related to Indian F-1 Team

(Bloomberg) -- Fugitive tycoon Vijay Mallya is facing money laundering charges in London involving the Force India Formula One team, and is fighting his extradition to India. 

Mallya was re-arrested Tuesday and charged at Westminster Court in central London. He will return to court Nov. 20. One of money laundering allegations relates to Force India Formula 1 team, prosecutor Mark Summers said.

The 61-year-old was arrested in London April 18 on a warrant issued by Indian authorities accusing him of conspiring to defraud India’s IDBI Bank through a 91 billion-rupee ($1.4 billion) loan to Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. -- a premium airline he founded in 2005 and shut down seven years later.

A quirk in British law means Mallya had to return to court so the case could be formally reopened, and he declined to consent to being extradited to India to face the charges.

“You heard it all,” Mallya said outside court while declining to comment on his case.

Mallya left India in 2016, saying he was moving to England to be closer to his children. He has since refused to return to India and said he fears an unfair trial amid the “media frenzy and hysteria” over unpaid dues. Mallya has also said government agencies are pursuing a "heavily biased investigation" and holding him guilty without trial.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy Hodges in London at jhodges17@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser