• AirAsia comes under CBI lens

    A month after Enforcement Directorate registered a case of foreign exchange violations against AirAsia India, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday claimed that it is also examining the matter in which there are allegations of fraudulent transactions of Rs 22 crore involving non-existent entities in India and Singapore.

    Sources in the CBI said that they have not registered a preliminary enquiry or regular case (FIR) in the matter but they are looking into the matter to see if it calls for registering a criminal case. “We are scrutinising the AirAsia documents right now,“ said the CBI officer. When contacted, an AirAsia India spokesperson said, “AirAsia India has not heard from the CBI. Should we receive a call from CBI, AirAsia India will furnish all information that they seek.As you are aware, the airline has already put it in the public domain that it is pursuing the ongoing investigation. AirAsia India subsequently filed a private complaint with the Bangalore police in this regard.“

    The issue was flagged by ousted chairman of Tata Sons Cyrus Mistry soon after he was replaced on October 24. He wrote in his let ter to Tata Sons board and trustees of Tata Trusts that, “Board members and trustees are also aware that in the case of AirAsia, ethical concerns have been raised with respect to certain transactions as well as the overall prevailing culture in the organization. A recent forensics investigation revealed fraudulent transactions of Rs 22 crore involving non-existent parties in India and Singapore.“

    Presently , ED is probing the matter under FEMA (foreign exchange management act) and has already sought documents from the company. It is looking into a specific transaction of over Rs 12 crore, out of Rs 22 crore, made to a Singaporean firm.

    Mistry had alleged that “executive trustee Mr Venkataraman, who is on the board of Air Asia and also a shareholder in the company , considered these transactions as non-material and did not encourage further study“. It was only at the insistence of the independent directors, one of whom immediately submitted his resignation, that the board decided to belatedly file a FIR, Mistry had said in his letter.

    He claimed it was Tata who had completed negotiations with AirAsia, but early in his tenure as the chairman of Tata Sons he (Mistry) was asked to table a proposal for the JV with AirAsia at a Tata Sons board meeting. In 2013, Tata Sons had joined hands with Malaysian carrier AirAsia and Arun Bhatia’s Telestra Tradeplace to start low cost carrier AirAsia India. The carrier had to wait for nine months before taking off. Antwaun Woods Womens Jersey

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