The agency glided past the maze of files in the Ministry of Civil Aviation only to find an act of corruption carried out for allegedly getting licences for international operations to an aircraft operator AirAsia.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a corruption case against AirAsia Group chief operating officer Tony Fernandes, aviation lobbyist Deepak Talwar and others for alleged violation of norms in getting licences for international operations. The CBI also carried out searches at five places in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
The agency glided past the maze of files in the Ministry of Civil Aviation only to find an act of corruption carried out for allegedly getting licences for international operations to an aircraft operator AirAsia. The case relates to the allegations of getting relaxation from the 5/20 rules of the Ministry of Aviation for procuring licences and also from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) rules during UPA regime in 2013 and 2014. As per 5/20 rule, national carriers are required to have five years of operational experience and a fleet of minimum 20 aircraft to fly overseas.
It is alleged that accused paid money that was used to pay bribes to known public servants and others for securing permit for the operation of international services.
Refuting the allegations, Shuva Mandal, director, AirAsia India Limited said, "AirAsia India Limited (AAIL) refutes any wrong-doing and is co-operating with all regulators and agencies to present the correct facts. In November, 2016 AAIL had initiated criminal charges against its ex-CEO and had also commenced civil proceedings in Bangalore for such irregularities. We hope to bring early resolution to all such issues."
Apart from Fernandes and Talwar, those named in the FIR are Venkataramanan Ramachandran, director of AirAsia ( India) Limited, Tharumalingam Kanagalingam, deputy group CEO of AirAsia, Rajender Dubey, director of HNR Pte Ltd (Singapore) and Sunil Kapur, chairman Travel/Total Food Services (Mumbai). The agency has also booked three companies – HNR Pte Ltd, AirAsia (India) Ltd and AirAsia, Malaysia and unknown public servants of Ministry of Civil Aviation and the then FIPB and private persons.
The FIR stated that the unknown public servants of Civil Aviation ministry, Central government, then FIPB members entered into a criminal conspiracy with Venkataramanan, Fernandes, Kanalingam, Rajendra Dubey of Green IT Com Private Limited, RRT Services India Pvt Ltd, HNR Trading Pte Ltd (Singapore), AirAsia (India) Limited and unknown private persons with intent to help AirAsia (India) to expedite the approval process and change in aviation policies to suit the company.
The CBI stated that the accused "intentionally chose to beat the legal frameworks and policies of the aviation sector". Venkatramanan was involved in lobbying with stakeholders in the government to secure mandatory approvals, some of them through non-transparent means, including the then FIPB clearance, NoC and the attempt for removal and modification of 5/20 rule.
The CBI stated, "AirAsia (India) through Fernandes further employed Kapur as a lobbying agent to whom the on board catering contract was given by Kanagalingam as a quid pro quo without any negotiation."
As part of the conspiracy, during 2015-16, AirAsia (India) Limited remitted about Rs 12.28 crore to HNR Trading Pte Ltd for a sham contract on the basis of a bogus agreement on plain papers, which was utilised for paying bribe to unknown public servants and others for securing permit for operation of international scheduled air transport services through Deepak Talwar of DTA Consulting and Kapur, who acted as lobbying agents.
Talwar in his presentation mentioned about the strategy to engage with officials of several ministries including the agenda for removal of the then 5/20 rule for which a payment of Rs.17.lakh was made to him.
CBI further pointed out that in December, 2014, Kapur at the coffee shop in the Four Season, Mumbai Hotel along with Kanagalingam handed over a closed packet containing cash of Rs 50 lakh to Sriram to facilitate the removal of the then 5/20 rule. CBI is probing the role of all the accused involved in lobbying and carried out raids to get evidence against the scandal.
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