Irregularities in Mumbai Airport Development Alleged

A case has been registered against G Venkata Krishna Reddy, the chairman of the GVK Group of Companies and the Mumbai International Airport Ltd for alleged irregularities to the tune of Rs 805 crore. A Joint Venture company named Mumbai International Airport Ltd or MIAL was formed by GVK Airport Holdings Ltd, Airport Authority India and few other foreign entities. The GVK owned 50.5 per cent of the shares and 26 per cent was with AAI. The agreement signed between AAI and MIAL in 2006 stipulates that MIAL shall run the Mumbai airport and they will have to share 38.7 per cent of their revenue with the AAI as annual fees. The rest will be used for the modernization, operation and maintenance of the airport. The premier investigating agency alleged that the accused had siphoned off Rs 310 crore by showing execution of bogus work contracts with nine other private companies. Most of this was said to be real estate development in the 200-acre undeveloped land parcel around the Mumbai airport in 2017-18. The wrongful gains to the promoters of GVK Group of Companies works out to be around Rs 805 crore as per the complaint. But investigation has revealed that there has also been under-reporting of the revenue of MIAL during the same period. If added, the total loss to the public exchequer will be more than Rs 1,000 crore. The Central Bureau of Investigation has named officials of the Airport Authority of India and nine other private companies. All have been accused of "causing wrongful gain of over 805 crore to themselves and causing a loss to the public exchequer from 2012-2018.