AirAsia case: Cyrus Mistry hits back at Tata Trusts' head Venkataramanan

Cyrus P Mistry, former chairman of Tata Sons, has rebutted some recent allegations made by R Venkataramanan, managing trustee, Tata Trusts. The latter’s “questionable motives”, he added, were bringing disrepute to the Tata group and Tata Trusts. 

Venkataramanan’s argument that he was only a non-executive director without any responsibility was “totally without any merit”. The board of directors at Tata Sons, holding company of Tata Group, and the Tata Trustees needed to concern themselves over the decline in governance standards at AirAsia India as evident from the latest revelations, he has said. “The actions or lack thereof that the board of Tata Sons and the Tata Trustees may take will define their commitment to upholding the value system enshrined by the Group’s founders,” said Mistry.

Adding: “His (Venkataramanan’s) alleged actions, which are today under investigation, raise grave public concerns over his credibility and ability to be the custodian of India’s largest public charitable trust. Needless to state, I deny all the malicious and defamatory allegations against me.”

Mistry and Venkataramanan have been involved in an ugly public spat since the legal fight began between the ousted chairman and Tata Sons. Mistry was removed as chairman of Tata Sons on October 24, 2016, by its board of directors at the behest of Tata Trusts, which controls 66 per cent in the holding company. 

Challenging his ouster, the Mistry family firms — Cyrus Investments and Sterling Investments — filed a petition against Tata Sons, its directors and Tata Trusts at the National Company Law Tribunal in December 2016, alleging mismanagement and oppression. The NCLT is set to pronounce its order next month.

In an e-mail to the Tata Sons board on October 26, 2016, and in subsequent filings at the NCLT, Mistry had raised ‘’ethical concerns’’ with respect to certain transactions at AirAsia India, as well as the overall culture within the organisation. 

He had alleged that the AirAsia India board, which included Venkatarmanan,a had deliberately chosen to overlook the findings of a forensic investigation which revealed fraudulent transactions of Rs 220 million involving non-existent parties in India and Singapore. 

It was only at the insistence of independent directors, one of whom immediately gave his resignation, that the board decided belatedly to file a First Information Report, Mistry had said.

“Venkataramanan, as managing trustee of the Tata Trusts, should know better than to drag the name of such a remarkable institution into an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation over his alleged personal integrity and alleged corrupt business dealings,” said Mistry.