The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered a cheating and forgery case against Chennai-based private airline Paramount Airways, its promoter M. Thiagarajan and others for allegedly diverting loans taken from four public sector banks to off-shore accounts.
“Searches are being conducted on the premises of Paramount Airways, Paramount Flight Services, Paramount Mills and Paramount Foundations, besides the residential official premises of the accused promoter Mr. Thiagarajan and other suspects in Chennai and Madurai,” said a CBI spokesperson.
The defunct airline was launched in 2005 and it was operational in the eastern and southern sectors. It had taken about a loan of Rs.550 crore from six banks.
The CBI has registered the case under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code alleging that its managing director and promoter Mr. Thiagarajan disposed of movable and immovable assets of the airline without the prior permission of lending banks, to which the assets were hypothecated.
“It is also alleged that the proceeds were thereafter misappropriated by the promoters of the company. The accused siphoned off large amounts of money, between April 2008 and October 2010, through transfers to offshore firms incorporated by him, by showing them as payment towards lease rental-engine access,” said the official, adding that one such account has been traced to British Virgin Islands opened in the name of a Singapore-based company.
According to the CBI, the accused also “induced” the then Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) to issue a no-objection certificate for a scheduled operators’ permit by using false and fabricated documents to meet the eligibility criteria.
Charge of diverting loans taken from four public sector banks to off-shore accounts
