Vijay Mallya last week stepped down as a Director of the Formula 1 team, Force India, according to papers submitted to the Companies House in the UK. However, he remains the team principal.

Mallya, who is currently facing extradition proceedings to India, told the website Autosport.com that he had his “own legal issues to take care, so it’s better that the company remains unaffected.”

He declined to comment on whether the team is likely to be sold, saying the issue has been the subject of speculation for years.

Mallya and the Dutch De Mol family acquired what was then called the Spyker F1 Team in 2007, with its name changed to Force India shortly after. In 2011, the Sahara Group acquired a 42.5 per cent stake in the company, with Mallya maintaining a 42.5 per cent share. Subrata Roy remains a Director of the company.

According to the company’s latest financial statement for the year ending 2016, published last year, it raised its turnover from £64.3 million in 2015 to £77.2 million because of higher sponsorship revenues, but showed a loss of £11.6 million, which it attributed to currency fluctuations.

Mallya’s extradition hearing is set to continue next month. His efforts to challenge the registration of a ruling by India’s Debt Recovery Tribunal in the UK and the application of an international freezing order were rejected by a London court last month.

Extradition hearing

Earlier this week, he filed an application to seek an appeal with the Court of Appeal, to which a response is expected in four-six weeks.

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