Congress casts doubts on Pawan Hans deal, alleges 'red flagged' companies benefited

Congressman Gaurav Vallabh said, "With details available about the bidders and their consortium where there are red flags on all three companies (set-up just 6 months ago, small fleet size and registered in the Cayman Islands), how government approved this deal. We have enough documents to prove that this was an unfair deal."

New Delhi: The Central government on Friday approved the sale of Pawan Hans Ltd along with management control to Star9 Mobility Pvt Ltd — a three-way consortium between Big Charter Private Limited, Maharaja Aviation Private Limited, and Almas Global Opportunity Fund SPC. However, on Sunday, the Congress Party alleged that Pawan Hans was sold to red-flagged companies founded just six months ago with a bid amount of Rs 211.14 crores with an intention to benefit someone close to the Modi government.

The Congress said the reserve price for the sale of a 51% majority stake in South Asia’s largest helicopter company was fixed at Rs. 199.92 crores. The other two bidders participated with bids of Rs. 181.05 crores and Rs. 153.15 crores respectively. Presenting the documents procured from the government's official website, Congress spokesperson Gaurav Vallabh today alleged that the government sold the 51% shares to a company founded just six months ago at a meagre price.

“M/s Star9 Mobility Private Ltd which won the bid is a consortium of M/s Big Charter Private Limited, M/s Maharaja Aviation Private Limited, and M/s Almas Global Opportunity Fund SPC and was set up just 6 months ago on 29 October 2021. M/s Star9 Mobility Private Ltd doesn’t have any helicopters of its own while M/s Big Charter Private Limited has just 3 helicopters in its fleet. Also, M/s Almas Global Opportunity Fund SPC is set up under the jurisdiction of Cayman Islands and has no correlation or experience in this sector,” said the Congress spokesperson. Also, there is a court case ongoing between M/s Big Charter Private Limited and M/s Ezen Aviation Private Limited in the Delhi High court, he informed.

Pawan Hans is South-East Asia’s largest Helicopter company with a fleet of 42 helicopters. Off -Shore operations, connecting inaccessible areas, charter services, search and rescue work, VIP transportation, corporate and special charters, hotline washing of insulators, and Heli-pilgrims are some of the major services run by Pawan Hans. “Pawan Hans is a very strategic organization catering to ONGC, HAL, and BSF with 51% stake with the Government of India and 49% with ONGC before the disinvestment process," he said.

He also said that the company’s employee union expressed interest in participating in the disinvestment process and had also recommended that Pawan Hans be merged with ONGC or made a subsidiary company but the government did not entertain the idea. "Pawan Hans made a net profit of Rs. 242.78 crores in 2016-17 but has gone downhill since 2018-19 making losses of Rs. 63.67 crores in 2018-19 and Rs. 33.15 Crores in 2019-20." he added.

Elaborating further, Gaurav stated, "With details available about the bidders and their consortium where there are red flags on all three companies (set-up just 6 months ago, small fleet size and registered in the Cayman Islands), how did the government agree to such a deal. We have enough documents to prove that this was an unfair deal."

He also alleged that it was an attempt to lower the valuation and ease the sale for the benefit of someone as the company that has been consistently making profits suddenly ran into losses from 2018-to 19 around the same time when the disinvestment was first processed.