Former Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry has denied the allegation of Tata Trusts managing trustee and AirAsia India director R. Venkataramanan that the CBI probe was the outcome of Mr. Mistry’s ‘revenge legal action’.
“I deny all the malicious and defamatory allegations against me,” Mr. Mistry said in a statement.
Dismissing Mr. Venkataramanan’s claims that as non-executive director of AirAsia India he had little or no role to play in operational matters, Mr. Mistry said, “Mr. Venkataramanan was intimately involved in the affairs of AirAsia India from its inception. He has had many roles including that of Executive Assistant to Ratan Tata at the time of formation of the company, Tata Sons’ nominee on the Board, and that of a shareholder with a 1.5% stake in the company.”
‘Weak excuse’
“Therefore, his weak excuse that he was only a non-executive director without any responsibility is totally without any merit,” he said.
To Mr. Venkataramanan’s assertion that the CBI had ‘wrongly named’ him, Mr. Mistry said, “This ridiculous attempt to question the independence of CBI and to cloak his alleged misadventures by using my name is treated with the contempt it deserves. His alleged actions, which are under investigation, raise grave public concerns over his credibility and ability to be the custodian of India’s largest public charitable trust.”
Mr. Mistry urged the Board of Tata Sons and the Tata trustees “to concern themselves over the decline in governance standards at AirAsia India that this shameful case reveals.”
He asked Mr Venkataramanan to refrain himself from dragging the name of Tata Trusts into an investigation by the CBI ‘over his alleged personal integrity and alleged corrupt business dealings.”
