The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday carried out searches to unearth the money trail in the case against Malaysia-based Air Asia Group CEO Anthony Francis “Tony” Fernandes, Air Asia India Limited (AAIL) and its director R. Venkataramanan, Air Asia Berhad (Malaysia) and others.
The move follows CBI searches in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru on Tuesday after the agency registered an FIR against the accused persons for violation of FDI norms and payment of bribes in an attempt to get an international-operations licence.
The CBI has alleged that unknown officials of the Civil Aviation Ministry and the then Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) conspired with Mr. Fernandes and others to help AAIL expedite the approval process and bring desirable changes in aviation policies.
Also, the Air Asia Group also allegedly violated FIPB norms in giving effective management control to a foreign entity by making AAIL a de facto subsidiary indirectly, rather than a joint venture.
However, AAIL has refuted any wrongdoing.
Among those named in the CBI case are Tharumalingam Kanalingam of AirAsia Berhad; Rajendra Dubey, director of Singapore-based HNR Trading Pte Limited, and the company; Total Food Services (Mumbai) chairman Sunil Kapur; Deepak Talwar, aviation consultant and principal-founder of DTA Consulting (Delhi).
It is alleged that Mr. Venkataramanan was involved in lobbying with stakeholders in the Central government to secure all mandatory approvals.
The CBI said that an effort was made in the Civil Aviation Ministry to remove or amend the 5/20 rule ahead of the 2014 elections.
The Ministry had moved a secret note in the Cabinet on February 27, 2014, to amend/remove the rule. A supplementary note as clarification was sent on March 5, 2014.
However, the proposal could not be approved as the Election Commission announced Lok Sabha elections the same day.
The airline got permit for only domestic operations in May 2014, for which they had applied in 2013.
