By Vineet Malik | November 2, 2022 | Akureyri, Iceland
Collusion between the top brass of a former Indian government airline - Air India Ltd. and the management of an Indian-French conglomerate reeking from nepotism, corruption and fraud would have gone under wraps, if a complaint was not revived to seek accountability from officials alleged to have committed a deep conspiracy theory that exacerbated the already bleeding airline into colossal debt and losses
Beginning of the Trial
Three weeks back, a packed city court in Andheri - a Mumbai suburb in west India presided by the Additional Chief Magistrate (ACM) Vijay C Gawai in a criminal matter filed by a former Air India employee - KVJ Rao passed an order and issued summons to the mighty and influential.
It is alleged that the accused persons in collusion with each other conspired into looting public monies that emerged from irregularities, procedural lapses, exceeding jurisdiction and misuse of financial powers in procurement of high value Ground Support Equipment (GSE) by Air India Airport Services Ltd. (AIASL) between 2015 and 2017.
GSE equipment is now lying idle and yet to be commissioned in services in non metro; B and C Tier Cities in absence of carrying out any wide body operations.
First Complaint filed by Air India Employees Union (AIEU) in 2020
Air India Employees Union (AIEU) President VH Soans and General Secretary RAB Mani filed a written complaint alleging fraud to then Air India Ltd. Chief Managing Director Rajiv Bansal in May 2020.
Investigation conducted by Air India Vigilance Department Corroborated Irregularities in 2021
Further to detailed investigation conducted by Vigilance Department, Air India Ltd., certain observations were made vide its report in September last year.
The Conspiracy of Corruption, Nepotism and Fraud
Ashvini Kumar Sharma, the then Chief Executive Officer (CEO) failed to implement proper Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for procurement of various GSEs and general purchases. He presented incorrect facts to the AIASL Board while seeking financial approvals. The Board was informed that 14 Tow bars were purchased for 6.8 million whereas tender of the tow bar was annulled and record was not provided to the Vigilance for procurement of such tow bars.
The tender for Telescopic Passenger Stairs that valued at 20.12 million was released in contravention of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC-OM) on Pre-Qualification Criteria (PQC). The tender was prescribed at two and a half times more to favour only one bidder left in the race. CVC guidelines in this regard stipulates that turnover criteria should not be kept too high.
As per the delegation of financial powers of AIASL, the purchase order has to be routed through the Chief/Regional Financial Managers whereas they were directly signed by Executive Director (ED) - Personnel and CEO AIASL.
Sushil Prasad, then General Manager (HQ) AIASL since retired failed to discharge his functions effectively by not adhering to the laid down purchase manual. He also delayed submission of information/records/tender files to the Vigilance Department for nearly one year, despite repeated reminders and personal follow-ups by the Vigilance.
Massive procurement orders at a value of 2.5 Billion given to M/s TLD for GSE.
The entire decision making mechanism with regard to the procurement of the GSE was handled by Sushil Prasad and Ashvini Kumar Sharma.
The complainant has alleged that, accused number nine, Satish Rallabandi worked as Director, Materials Procurement with Air India Ltd. He later joined M/s TLD as a Director along with his son Pramod Rallabandi who was already employed with M/s TLD. The father conspired to get the tenders awarded in favour of M/s TLD.
Instead of taking any action against the errant employees, Chief Vigilance Officers - Preeti Bhatnagar, General Manager - Vigilance, Rajneesh Bagga and Chief Vigilance Officer, Department of Civil Aviation - Anjali Mathur erred being messengers of the plaint from one department to another and connived with each other to shield the perpetrators of crime.
Chief Managing Director, Air India Assets Holding Ltd. (AIAHL) - Vikram Dev Dutt as a public servant failed to take any action and recover monies from the persons involved in the conspiracy.
Then Chief Managing Director, Air India Ltd., now Aviation Secretary with the Ministry of Civil Aviation - Rajiv Bansal also failed to take any action against the corrupt employees.
Chief Managing Director and Director Millennium Aero Dynamics Pvt. Ltd. - Milan Zatakia and Meenal Zatakia worked in collusion in getting benefited by the entire corrupt practices to have received such tenders of colossal value running into billions.
Senior Police Inspector, Bhagwat Rama Garande - Mumbai Airport Police Station and Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 8, Mumbai Police - Dr. D.S Swami did not take action on the complaint filed before them in June and July this year that disclosed commission of cognisable offences.
Background of M/s TLD
TLD is an Alvest Group Co. based in France. It is an international group dedicated to the design, manufacture and distribution of technical products for the aviation industry, which include aviation ground support equipment, services, spares and technical adhesives and markings for the aerospace and industrial markets. The Alvest Group includes brands like Smart Airport Systems, TLD, Sage Parts and Aero Specialties or Alvest Equipment Services.
Background of Millennium Aero Dynamics Pvt. Ltd.
Millennium and Alvest Group, France with one of their flagship brands TLD have been exclusive partners for over 30 years and have worked together to provide a broad range of services. Its team of over 700 engineers and technicians provide these services 24×7 at over 40 airports in India. Millennium provides marketing, commissioning, warranty management, maintenance, repair, overhaul and refurbishment services for GSE in India and abroad.
Present Status of Air India Ownership
The TATA group acquired 100 per cent stake in the bleeding airline valued at 180 Billion deal realised in January this year. Out of the total value, 153 Billion was received as debt and 27 Billion was paid to the government in cash.
Landmark Precedent by High Court and Supreme Court of India on White-Collar Crime
The Bombay High Court observed and later the Supreme Court of India upheld in the matter of Tejas Pravin Dugad Vs. Union of India and others that “White-collar crime offences are more serious than murder and dacoity as they emerge from an element of conspiracy.”
The Judge has so far issued summons through the Mumbai Police to seven persons namely, Ashvini Kumar Sharma, Amrita Sharan, Sushil Prasad, Vinod Hejmadi, Satish Rallabandi, Milan Zatakia and Meenal Zatakia to put up their defence on 12 December this year.
The Revelation reached out to Amrita Sharan, Vinod Hejmadi, Milan Zatakia, Meenal Zatakia, Bhagwat Rama Garande and Dr. D S Garande to seek their comments however a response was only received from Milan Zatakia and Meenal Zatakia through their law firm - Mehta and Padamsey.
Advocate Siddhartha Puthoor representing Milan Zatakia and Meenal Zatakia instead of providing explanation has termed such alleged facts as false, intimidated The Revelation to not publish the story or else they would initiate legal proceedings against the publication.
This story is first published by The Revelation.
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