These irregularities had already been reported to the Air Asia Board and discussed in its last meeting, the company said.
Saying that neither AirAsia India, nor Tata Sons nor Air Asia Berhad condoned any sort of unethical practices, it added in a statement that the three entities would take ‘very stern’ action against “perpetrators at all levels of the organisation”.
Recently-ousted Tata group chairman Cyrus Mistry had last week levelled serious charges of fraudulent transactions worth Rs.22 crore (RM13.6 million) by Air Asia India.
AirAsia India is a joint venture between Tata Sons, with a 51 per cent stake, and AirAsia Berhad which has a 49 per cent stake.
“AirAsia (India) Limited, AirAsia Berhad and Tata Sons Limited look into all allegations of impropriety and misappropriation very seriously… The three entities would like to reiterate that they strictly adhere to internal procedures and policies,” the company stated.
According to a report in The Hindu, after his abrupt exit from the helm of the Tata group last Monday, Mistry had informed Tata Sons’ board members that a recent forensic investigation had “revealed fraudulent transactions of Rs.22 crore involving non-existent parties in India and Singapore” related to AirAsia India.
Without linking its statement to Mistry’s specific allegation, the airline said that “there is an ongoing investigation against certain former personnel of AirAsia (India) Limited involving irregular personal expense claims and certain company charges.”
It, however, refused to divulge any more details, said The Hindu report.
“AirAsia (India) Limited will not make any specific reference to the matters investigated at this stage as it may be prejudicial to AirAsia (India) Limited or the personnel investigated… AirAsia (India) Limited, AirAsia Berhad and Tata Sons Limited look into all allegations of impropriety and misappropriation very seriously,” it stated.
The airline, which currently flies on domestic routes, has eight aircraft on its fleet and a market share of more than two per cent.