The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday summoned former Tata Sons director R. Venkataramanan for questioning in the ongoing Air Asia investigation.
The ED has summoned Venkataramanan on February 10 at 10 a.m. at its Delhi office for questioning under the PMLA Act 2002.
A spokesperson for Tata Sons in a statement issued on Friday said, “A section of the media has reported that R. Venkataramanan had ignored summons by the ED and agencies on three occasions. During the relevant period, R. Venkataramanan was a non-executive nominee Director of Tata Sons on the board of Air Asia India Limited.”
“Such an allegation is factually incorrect. Mr Venkataramanan has not ignored summons from ED or any other agency. The ED summons has been received by him for the first time on January 22, 2020, and Mr Venkataramanan has confirmed that he will be attending to the ED summons as required,” the statement said.
“Based on due enquiry undertaken by Air Asia India Limited, there has been no wrongdoing by R Venkataramanan,” a Tata Sons spokesperson said.
Venkataramanan is a former Tata Trusts Managing Trustee. He quit Tata Trusts last year amid allegations of misuse of I-T exemptions. He had also resigned from RNT Associates Pvt Ltd, the personal investment vehicle of Tata group patriarch Ratan Tata.
The ED had earlier registered the case on the basis of an FIR filed by the CBI in April 2018.
While Venkataramaman is no longer associated with the Tata group, the group well-known for its ethical standards is defending him because he worked in the group at that point of time to which the enquiry pertains.
At present, Venkataramanan is associated with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL).
(With input from agencies)