Vijay Mallya says 'Indian Empress' - sold for €43.5 mn - hasn't been his since 2011!

Before he rocked his boat and fled to the UK to escape jail time in India for loan defaults, Vijay Mallya entertained divas and suits alike on his 95-metre long luxury yacht, Indian Empress.

But much like its owner, the yacht too lost its charm. After a long-running dispute over unpaid crew wages, which saw the yacht being detained in Malta earlier this year, it was recently sold for €43.5 million in a court-ordered auction. Now, one would assume that a super-yacht being auctioned off would make anyone sweat, but the ‘poster boy of bank defaults’ reveals why its“not his problem”.

Speaking to a news agency at the British Formula One Grand Prix, Mallya said, “I have not owned the Indian Empress boat for more than seven years now.” In fact, Mallya added that it had belonged to “a Middle Eastern gentleman”, whose name he would not disclose, in a deal that gave Mallya use of it for one month a year. Mallya has been in Britain since he left India in March 2016, unable to travel after his passport was revoked.