Tata Trusts back Venkat in AirAsia case

With AirAsia India being investigated for allegedly flouting norms to get approvals to commence operations in India as well as fly internationally,  the Tata Trusts board held a meeting to discuss the issues arising from the ongoing investigation Thursday. Tata Sons Limited is a 49% shareholder in AirAsia India Ltd.

"The Trustees categorically reiterated that the reported investigations have nothing whatsoever to do with the affairs of any of the Tata Trusts and noted that papers and documents relating to the Trusts were neither seen nor called for by the investigators," it said in a statement.

The Trustees also reaffirmed their support to the head of Tata Trusts, R Venkataramanan, and categorically denied that "Tata Trusts’ offices were raided" by the investigating agencies. "The office of Mr. R. Venkataramanan, in his capacity as a Non-Executive Director and a nominee of Tata Sons on the Board of Air Asia India Limited, in the Trust office premises, was visited by the authorities and clarifications sought on some papers relating to Air Asia India, some of which were taken by the authorities."

It should be noted that investigating agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a case against AirAsia Group head Tony Fernandes, Deputy group CEO Tharumalingam Kanagalingam along with Tata Trusts head and AirAsia India director R Venkataramanan, Travel Food Services chairman Sunil Kapoor, aviation consultant Deepak Talwar, and Rajendra Dubey, director of Singapore-based SNR for allegedly flouting aviation norms to get clearances in India in 2013, last month.