Report: Indian Court Issues Arrest Warrant for Novato Advance Owner

An Indian court has issued an arrest warrant for business tycoon and Novato Advance owner Vijay Mallya, according to the BBC.

The warrant was issued for Mallya and four other directors of Kingfisher Airlines for not appearing in court on claims the company bounced $1.9 million in checks issued to GMR Hyderabad International Airport, the BBC reported.

Mallya, 56, is a member of the upper house of Indian parliament, as well as the chairman of the United Breweries group, India's largest brewing company, which makes Kingfisher beer. He owns a slew of entities across the globe, including the Mendocino Brewing Company and ForceIndia Formula 1 racing team.

Mallya also owns Marinscope Community Newspapers, a chain of weekly newspapers in Marin that includes the Advance, the Mill Valley Herald, the Ross Valley Reporter, the Twin Cities Times, the Sausalito Marin Scope and the San Rafael-Terra Linda News Pointer.

Mallya reportedly owns homes all over the world, including one in Sausalito, as well as the Mallya Collection Private Car Museum, a facility in Sausalito that houses his collections of classic sports and racing cars. The United Breweries group also has an office on Bridgeway in Sausalito. 

Mallya launched Kingfisher Airlines in 2005 to much fanfare, becoming India's largest airline at one point. But it "has long been a money loser weighed down by debts, unable to pay its airport dues or fuel bills," Forbes reported. The airline grounded its fleet on Oct. 1 after some workers went on strike to protest months of unpaid wages.

As of March 2012, Mallya's net worth was an estimated $1 billion, according to Forbes.

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