The central government is committed to bringing Vijay Mallya back to the country to face proceedings for defaulting on loans, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Vikas Swaroop, said on Friday. “Currently, we are in the process of consulting various agencies,” Swaroop said at a press briefing in Delhi, Hindustan Times reported. The government is considering hiring legal experts to help get the 60-year-old deported from the United Kingdom, he added.

The statement comes a day after the Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating a money laundering case involving Mallya, wrote to the External Affairs Ministry, seeking its assistance to have the former liquor baron brought back to India through diplomatic channels.

Mallya, on Thursday, filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, refusing to reveal details of his overseas assets. This followed a Hyderabad court’s ruling, which found him guilty in a cheque-bouncing case filed against him by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. A consortium of 17 banks led by State Bank of India had moved the Supreme Court to recover the Rs 9,000-crore loan they had lent to the businessman, who left the country early in March.