India: CBI to probe Air India-Indian Airlines merger

The Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI will probe the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, as well as alleged irregularities in the purchase and lease of aircraft by the two state-run carriers under the Congress-led UPA coalition government which it said has caused “huge” losses to the taxpayer.

The investigative agency today registered three FIRs and a preliminary enquiry to go into the controversial decisions made by the Manmohan Singh government with regard to the two national carriers, including surrender of profitable routes to favour private airlines.

The cases have been registered against unidentified officials of Air India, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and others under charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption, CBI spokesperson R K Gaur said.

“The cases relate to decisions taken by the ministry during the tenure of the UPA which caused losses of hundreds of millions of crore of rupees to the exchequer,” he said.

Full Content: New Indian Express

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