Ex United Spirits boss Vijay Mallya ousted from Barbados Tridents cricket club after Diageo took over Royal Challengers

Vijay Mallya, the fugitive former head of India’s United Spirits, has been forcibly removed from his final connection with high profile international sports.

Vijay Mallya’s control of the Royal Challengers cricket team has been handed to Diageo.

First the former self-styled “king of the good times” lost control of Royal Challengers Bangalore, the Indian Premier League cricket club, which passed to Diageo after it took control of United Spirits in 2012 and which ousted him from India’s biggest spirits group in 2016.

Then last year he ceased to be prime sponsor and co-owner of the Force India Formula 1 grand prix team when it collapsed into administration. Now he has had ownership of the Barbados Tridents Caribbean Premier League cricket franchise forcibly removed from him because of unpaid debts.

Following non-payment of players’ wages and other costs associated with the Barbados team, the franchise has been removed from Mallya and has been passed to the American-based CMG, which led a team of local and international investors to take over the beleaguered franchise and pay the players for last season.

After he fled to London in 2016, the Indian authorities successfully imposed a global freeze on Mallya’s assets, with the High Court in London allowing him £18,000 a week to maintain his lifestyle while he awaits a final ruling on an extradition warrant to face charges of fraud and money laundering in India.

What is expected to be his final appeal is scheduled to be heard in early July.

However, a suit lodged in a separate court by Swiss Bank UBS to repossess Mallya’s luxury mansion in prestigious Regent’s Park in London has been stayed for a year. The bank sought repossession over failure to repay a £20.4 million loan on the property, but the court has given Mallya until April 30 next year to clear his account.

Mallya also occupies a luxury country mansion at Tewin in Hertfordshire.