Indian Supreme Aviation owner arrested for fraud

According to local news reports, Supreme Aviation (India) (Mumbai International) President and CEO Ammeet Agarwal has been arrested by India’s Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) in connection with an alleged fraudulent aircraft transaction worth INR 45 million rupees (USD 538,606).

ch-aviation reached out to Agarwal, a pilot whose aviation company is part of Agarwal’s family-run logistics provider Supreme Transport Organization, for comment.

According to reports in The Times of India, The Hindustan Times and The Indian Express, Agarwal arranged the sale of a damaged Cessna (single turboprop) 208B Caravan to the Dutch company Trek Air, owned by Michiel Kneefel, which buys and sells old aircraft.

In July 2022, Kneefel deposited the money into an escrow account managed by Powell Aircraft Title Services in the United States. However, unbeknownst to Kneefels, there was an ongoing legal dispute between the directors of Supreme Transport that had already reached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), reports Indian investigative news site The 420. This meant the aircraft was under a status quo order , which prevents their sale.

Nevertheless, the aircraft was prepared for shipment from Mundra port in Gujarat on February 7, 2023. On Agarwal’s instructions, Kneefel transferred another INR 490,000 (US$5,864) to the bank account of Agarwal’s uncle’s company, Shorelight Limited, in London.

However, Kneefel subsequently received an email from Axis Bank in Mumbai stating that the aircraft was mortgaged to them. The bank had approached the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) in Mumbai to recover the loan and seize the aircraft.

Supreme Transport directors involved in the Agarwal dispute also informed the NCLT about its violation of the court order preventing the sale. As a result, the court ordered customs to prevent the aircraft from leaving the country.

Kneefel demanded a refund, but Agarwal refused, insisting that he would have to wait for the dispute to be resolved. This prompted Kneefel to instruct his legal representative to file a formal police complaint, which led to Agarwal’s arrest.

According to The 420, Agarwal was also arrested in April 2022 for falsely claiming his status as the Honorary Consul of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in India. Its authorization had been revoked four years earlier by both the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Indian Foreign Ministry.