Former liquor baron Vijay Mallya told British weekly The Sunday Times that he has been a resident of the United Kingdom since 1992. Mallya is part of the electoral rolls in the UK, with his home in Hertfordshire as his recorded address, according to the report. The businessman confirmed to the newspaper that Ladywalk, his three-storey mansion located an hour’s drive north of London in Tewin village, was his “official address in the UK”, the report said, adding Indian authorities were aware of this detail.

The 60-year-old, who is embroiled in a slew of legal issues, claimed the “ownership structure of Ladywalk is perfectly legal” and that there was no “concealment or tax avoidance involved” in the purchase of the property, PTI reported. The mansion worth £11.5 million was bought from British Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton’s father by a firm with offshore links.

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Official documents list the owner of Ladywalk as a limited liability partnership – where one partner is not responsible or liable for another partner's misconduct or negligence – of the same name, which includes a company based out of St Kitts and Nevis, a Commonwealth nation considered a tax haven. Ladywalk Investments, a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands – another tax haven – was granted a loan by Swiss private bank Edmond de Rothschild in July 2015 to purchase the property.

Mallya left India early in March, after a consortium of banks moved the Supreme Court to recover the Rs 9,000 crore he owes them. However, he has consistently maintained that he was not absconding but merely traveling for business. His passport, which was suspended by the Ministry of External Affairs earlier, was revoked.

Furthermore, the Ethics Committee of the Rajya Sabha has recommended expelling Mallya from the Upper House, PTI reported. The panel, headed by Congress veteran Karan Singh, has given him a week's time to respond, but officials claim this is "just a formality".