Indian multimillionaire Vijay Mallya ordered to fork over hundreds of thousands of dollars in back pay to superyacht crew
- Mallya abandoned the yacht and its crew in September 2017 following his arrest in connection with a US$1.27 billion fraud. He is fighting extradition
The crew of Indian multimillionaire Vijay Mallya’s superyacht have been awarded almost US$1 million in back pay after the businessman and former Formula One team owner abandoned the vessel and its 40 crew in Malta more than a year ago.
Nautilus, the union representing the crew which includes several Britons, said they would receive a total of US$905,000 following the forced sale of Mallya’s US$95m Indian Empress yacht.
Mallya abandoned the yacht and its crew in September 2017 following his arrest in connection with a £1 billion (US$1.27 billion) fraud and is fighting extradition from the UK to India.
A Maltese court ordered the sale of the yacht to secure funds to pay creditors, including the crew. Some of the Indian Empress’s senior crew have not left the vessel since it was abandoned and are owed up to US$92,000 each in unpaid wages.
The yacht, which features a 15-seat cinema and Sir Elton John’s baby grand piano, was sold to Maltese-registered firm Sea Beauty Yachting Limited for US$35m in September. It was renamed Neom and listed for private charter at a cost of US$850,000-a-week.
Danny McGowan, the international organiser of Nautilus, said: “We are glad that we were able to help our members in this way. It is so important that maritime professionals working on board superyachts join Nautilus before they encounter this type of issue, as waiting until they have a problem normally means that it is too late.