A $93m superyacht owned by Indian multimillionaire Vijay Mallya has been impounded in Malta in a dispute over the businessman’s failure to pay the crew more than $1m in wages.

Mallya’s 95-metre Indian Empress was boarded by port officials and prevented from leaving Malta on Tuesday as part of the crew’s legal action to recover unpaid wages.

More than 40 crew, including several Britons, Indians and eastern European workers, have not been paid since September when Mallya abandoned the vessel.

Some of the senior crew, who have not left the vessel since it was abandoned, are owed up to $92,000 in unpaid wages.

Mallya, a co-owner of the Force India Formula One team and self-proclaimed “King of the Good Times”, was arrested in London last year over allegations he supported his F1 team with money-laundered cash.

Indian authorities are seeking his extradition to face trial in India. Mallya is on bail pending an extradition hearing scheduled to begin in April.