Sahara Force India is not up for sale, says Vijay Mallya aide

Sahara Force India is not up for sale. This is the defiant stand of the Vijay Mallya-owned Britain-based Formula 1 motor racing team, despite months of speculation that the company may change hands. Meanwhile, Mallya has appealed against freezing of his assets last month by the high court of England and Wales, which upheld a ruling by a tribunal in India.
 
Now living in London, Mallya has for over a year been battling against the central government in British courts to resist extradition to India and freezing of his assets. In the first instance, a final hearing is scheduled for July 11 at a magistrates’ court, before a verdict comes later in the year on a date to be indicated by the concerned judge.

 
Regarding freezing of Mallya’s assets, Sarosh Zaiwalla, senior partner in Zaiwalla & Co, which represented Russia and Iran in freezing of assets cases, expressed surprise at the high court lending credence to what was not even a court judgement in India. It was understood from the Court of Appeal that Mallya has applied to set aside the order.
 

A source close to Mallya, on condition of anonymity, said, “Nothing is happening – no sale or anything of Force India. Formula 1 is notorious for people wanting to buy teams. I would take it with a pinch of salt.”

 
Force India’s chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer was earlier quoted by Planet F1 as conceding that the Indian team asked for a bit of money upfront from Liberty Media to tide over the offseason period. But this was blocked by some of the other teams, which created a cashflow problem in winter. “But now, we’re past the winter months. It should be easier for us now,” Szafnauer said.
 
The latest speculation is Michael Andretti, a team owner in the American IndyCars competition, being interested in Force India, partly owned by Sahara India. Motersportweek.com reported that Andretti was seen in the paddock at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal earlier this month and concluded he might have been exploring a deal with Mallya. Celebritynetworth.com estimated Andretti’s net worth to be $40 million, which is considered to be insufficient to make a bid for a Formula 1 team.

 
In any case, Mallya was not present in Montreal, as he is restrained from travelling out of the United Kingdom ever since the central government confiscated his passport.
 
Clearly, he possessed only one travel document, unlike jeweller Nirav Modi (he is said to owe Punjab National Bank around $2 billion) who is staggeringly having a folder full of passports, according to Indian authorities, and thereby allegedly roaming the world relatively freely, cocking a snook at India.  
 
On June 9 last, Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper claimed Rich Energy, a British energy drinks firm, would complete a £100 million takeover of Force India “within days”. According to accounts submitted to the British registrar Companies House in 2017, Rich Energy’s total assets were a little over £1 million and its liabilities over half a million pounds. That doesn’t sound adequate enough for a takeover.

 
However, changes have been affected within Force India. Mallya remains its team principal but has resigned as managing director and a member of the board of directors, with his son Siddharth becoming a director. Robert Fernley continues to be deputy team principal. 
 
Asked to comment on Monday’s accusation by the enforcement directorate (ED) that Mallya had siphoned off a part of the Rs 37 billion borrowed from Indian banks by his now defunct Kingfisher Airline (KFA) to Force India, the source close to him described it as “complete nonsense”. He said that Margaret Sweeney, chief financial officer at Force India, appearing as a witness in the extradition proceedings, dismissed the central government’s claim on the matter.

 
Sweeney told the court during a hearing in December that KFA and Force India had entered into a 12-year partnership worth $122 million in 2010, but this agreement was terminated two years later after the airline company ran into rough weather.
 
So, Force India had to repay some of the sponsorship money to KFA. He further underlined that the British Crown Prosecution Service, appearing on behalf of the central government, did not pursue the allegation in court thereafter.