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CBI searches Jet Airways office, residence of Naresh Goyal in ₹538-crore bank fraud case
The searches were conducted after the CBI on Wednesday registered a case following receipt of a complaint from Canara Bank, alleging irregularities.
MUMBAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday conducted searches at seven locations, including the premises of Jet Airways and its founder Naresh Goyal in the city, in connection with an alleged ₹538-crore bank fraud.
The investigation agency conducted searches across the residences and offices of Naresh Goyal, his wife Anita, and former airline director Gaurang Ananda Shetty.
Read here: CBI conducts search at Jet Airways office in alleged bank fraud case
The searches were conducted after the CBI on Wednesday registered a case following receipt of a complaint from Canara Bank on November 23, 2022, alleging irregularities committed during 2011 to 2019. The agency said the accused persons/entities had misappropriated, diverted and siphoned off loan amounts procured from the bank.
“A written complaint dated November 23, 2022, from Canara Bank, Recovery and Legal Section, BKC, Mumbai, was submitted regarding alleged offences of cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and criminal misconduct committed by Jet Airways (India) Ltd, Naresh Jagdishrai Goyal, Anita Naresh Goyal, Gaurang Ananda Shetty and unknown public servants/others for causing wrongful loss of ₹538.62 crore to the bank,” a CBI official said.
As per the complaint, a forensic audit of the accounts of Jet Airways (india) Ltd had revealed “fraudulent features like diversion and siphoning of funds.”
“It was alleged that the transactions under scanner pointed towards cheating, misappropriation of funds by the borrower and siphoning off funds borrowed from banks for purposes unrelated to the operations of the borrower,” the official said and added that “the account was declared a fraud and reported to the Reserve Bank of India on July 29, 2021.”
The funds were siphoned off through payments towards professional and consultancy expenses, the official said, adding, “The complaint disclosed commission of offences punishable under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act by the accused persons.”
Earlier in February, the Bombay high court had quashed the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) money-laundering case against Naresh Goyal and his wife. The ED case was based on an FIR registered by the Mumbai police against the Goyals for alleged cheating and forgery on a complaint filed by Akbar Travels. Goyals’ lawyers had submitted that the ED case was registered on the basis of a complaint filed in 2018 but the latter had filed a closure report.
The company was in the process of revival after Jalan Kalrock Consortium won the bid for Jet Airways under the insolvency resolution process at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).