Daijiworld Media Network

Mumbai, Jan 5: Absconding business tycoon Vijay Mallya has been declared a fugitive economic offender by a special anti-money laundering court in Mumbai. He is the first tycoon to be named under the new law to prevent financial fraud.

The tag now allows the government to confiscate Vijay Mallya’s properties in the country.

Mallya currently faces extradition from the United Kingdom, where the liquor baron fled to in 2016, after a court ordered his return to India to face fraud charges resulting from the collapse of his defunct Kingfisher Airlines.

Mallya left India with owing more than $1 billion after defaulting on loan payments to state-owned banks and allegedly misusing the funds which were availed to bail out his Kingfisher Airlines.

Mallya has said earlier that he had made an ‘unconditional offer’ to an Indian court in a bid to settle the charges, but denies that was an admission of guilt.

"I cannot understand how my extradition decision and my settlement offer are linked in any way," he had tweeted on December 10 last year.

"Wherever I am physically, my appeal is 'please take the money'. I want to stop the narrative that I stole money," he had said.

Mallya’s financial dealings are being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.

Mallya was once known as the ‘King of Good Times’. He has been living in a sprawling $15 million mansion in southeast England but has denied absconding.