CHENNAI: The CBI raided seven places in Chennai and Madurai belonging to the defunct Paramount Airways on Thursday after filing a case against its promoter M Thiagarajan for defrauding banks. CBI said that Thiagarajan had disposed of the assets without the knowledge or permission of the banks which had extended credit facilities to the airlines.
The airline, which was started in 2005, had wound up its operation in 2010.
It is alleged by the CBI that Thiagarajan in the period of April, 2008 to October, 2010 siphoned off large amounts of money to the accounts of offshore firms, showing them as payment towards ‘Lease Rental-Engine’ access.
The CBI also said that Paramount Airlines had induced the Director General Civil Aviation to issue NOC to get the scheduled operators permit by submitting fabricated information.
It is also learnt that the company had submitted a plan to re-start the operation with six ATR aircraft in 2013 but it was nipped after the banks wrote to the DGCA.