advertisement
The Central Bureau of Investigation has booked AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes and others for bribing unnamed government officials to obtain a flying permit for his joint venture airline with the Tata Group and start international flights from the first day.
His name had also cropped up in a letter by Cyrus Mistry, who was unceremoniously removed as chairman of Tata Sons in October 2016. Mistry, referring to AirAsia India, had alleged that a forensic audit by Deloitte revealed fraudulent transactions worth Rs 22 crore with non-existent parties.
Venkatramanan, a director on the board of the airline, had found them to be “non-material”. He had later filed a criminal defamation case against Mistry for “causing irreparable damage to his reputation”.
Tata Sons and Malaysia’s AirAsia Berhad own 49 percent each in AirAsia India. Venkatramanan owns 1.5 percent and S Ramadorai, former chief executive officer of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., holds 0.5 percent.
Tata Sons declined to respond to BloombergQuint’s queries.
A statement by AirAsia India Ltd said it “refutes any wrongdoing and is cooperating with all regulators and agencies to present the correct facts.”
A statement quoting Shuva Mandal, director at AirAsia India said:
The CBI said the first information report, uploaded on its website, was prompted by a tip off from a source. The agency didn’t disclose the name. All those named in the FIR have been booked under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
Here’s the list of the people and entities named in the FIR:
AirAsia India was indirectly controlled and operated by AirAsia Berhad, violating the norms of the erstwhile Foreign Investment Promotion Board, according to the CBI. The government dismantled FIPB in 2017.
The structure was indirectly finalised through a ‘brand licence agreement’ signed between AirAsia Berhad and the Indian joint venture in April 2013. The pact made the Indian joint venture a de-facto subsidiary rather than a joint venture, the FIR said.
Then FIPB regulations allowed foreign airlines to hold 49 percent in a domestic carrier but the management control had to stay with the Indian partner. CBI has alleged that shareholders and the Indian partners were aware of this intention and consciously violated the then FIPB norm. They broke foreign direct investment rules by giving effective control of the airline to a foreign entity, according to the agency.
Fernandes-led Malaysian airline wanted the Indian joint venture to fly internationally from day one, according to the CBI. Venkataramanan, a Tata Sons nominee on AirAsia India board, lobbied to get all government approvals, including the FIPB clearance and a change in the 5/20 rule—five years of domestic flying and 20-aircraft fleet to launch international operations. The rule was scrapped in 2016 by the Narendra Modi administration.
Officials of the Civil Aviation Ministry and FIPB entered into a criminal conspiracy with Venkatramanan, Fernandes, Kanalingam and Dubey with the intent to help AirAsia India expedite the approval process and change aviation policies to suit the company, the FIR alleges.
he agency alleged that Fernandes employed Sunil Kapur as a lobbying agent and Kanalingam gave him the on-board catering contract as a quid pro quo without any negotiation.
The CBI said it received information that in 2015-16, AirAsia India remitted about Rs 12.23 crore to Singapore-based HNR Trading, owned by Deekap Talwar, for a sham contract on the basis of a bogus agreement. The amount was used to bribe government officials through Talwar and Kapur, the CBI has alleged.
(This article was first published on the BloombergQuint)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)