 "Ratan Tata")
In a petition filed with the National Company Law Tribunal, Cyrus Investments and Sterling Investment Corp, investment companies of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group have accused Tata Sons and Ratan Tata for having dealings with Hamid Reza Malakotipour, an alleged sanctioned global terrorist.
The Economics Times reported the findings on December 4. Reportedly, the petitioners said, "Hence, acting upon the instructions of respondent 2 (Ratan Tata), the Tata group in its dealings with AirAsia have indirectly been financers of terrorism and respondent 2 (Tata), by his acts has caused irreparable harm to the age old image of the Tata group in addition to breaching the trust of not only the shareholders of the Tata group but also its employees."
However, a spokesperson for Tata Sons quashed the allegations against Tata Sons and Ratan Tata baseless. "Each one of them will be responded to and proved incorrect," he said.
Tata Sons and Malaysian carrier AirAsia Berhad each own 49% in the airline. The remaining 2% is owned by chairman Ramadorai and Director R Venkataramanan.
Segments of Deloitte's forensic report on AirAsia India have revealed ties between Rajendra Dubey - said to be former CEO Mittu Chandilya's close aide in lobbying for the airline in government circles - and Hamid Reza Malakotipour, a former airline executive.
Malakotipour previously served as the regional manager for Mahan Air in the UAE. He is mentioned in the report as having been Dubey's co-shareholder in a company called Green IT Com.
Malakotipour has been identified by the US Department of Treasury as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist", the Deloitte report has said. It has cited other allegations against him including "supply of equipment to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qud Force, an Iran-based special operations force, designated as a supporter of terrorism by the United States since 2007".
