Naresh Goyal
The plea cited his continuing medical conditions, including a malignant duodenal neuroendocrine tumour, and Anita’s death in May 2024. Of Canara Bank’s Rs 538.6 crore exposure, Rs 365.6 crore related to letters of credit and bank guarantees to vendors and the remaining was fund-based exposure used for payments to oil companies, Airports Authority of India, commission, bank charges and parking charges, it said. It said daily operations were run by corporate executives, noting that “professionals, who received annual remuneration ranging from Rs 2 crore to Rs 14 crore along with associated authority and benefits, were responsible for the company’s executive and day-to-day management.
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Goyal said ED arrested him in Sept 2023 and he spent 249 days in custody before Bombay HC granted him bail, noting that he was “sick and infirm”. The plea said ED’s complaint does not identify any specific property derived from criminal activity, trace any such property to Goyal, or show concealment, possession, acquisition, use, projection or claims of proceeds of crime. It said ED treated a disputed lending exposure as proceeds of crime. The plea said Goyal was strictly a non-executive chairman and board decisions were collectively taken.
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Because of financial distress, not fraud, the plea said the airline had not defaulted for about 25 years before Dec 2018 and suspended operations in April 2019. Goyal attributed Jet Airways’s collapse to commercial and industry factors, including rising aviation fuel prices, foreign exchange volatility, competition from low-cost carriers, high operating costs, unprofitable routes and inability to realise synergies from Jet Lite.
It also referred to the National Company Law Tribunal initiating liquidation proceedings for Jet Airways on Nov 26, 2024, and said the sale of the airline’s assets is expected to generate over Rs 3,500 crore for dues clearance. The ED case stems from a Canara Bank complaint alleging that Jet Airways, Goyal, his late wife Anita Goyal, former director Gaurang Shetty and others defrauded the bank of Rs 538.6 crore. It said he provided interim funds of Rs 250 crore during the airline’s distress, supported restructuring efforts and resigned from the board on March 25, 2019, at the request of State Bank of India.
Mumbai: Seeking discharge in a money laundering case filed by ED, Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal has said CBI is yet to complete its probe into the alleged predicate offence or file a chargesheet. In his plea before a special court, he said framing charges under Prevention of Money Laundering Act before CBI reaches even a prima facie conclusion would be “a travesty of justice”. The plea said CBI has been probing the FIR for three years and has not concluded that Goyal committed any offence or that the funds cited by ED are proceeds of crime. The plea said Goyal did not personally borrow from the bank or furnish a personal guarantee for Jet Airways’s facilities.
A predicate or scheduled offence is the foundational criminal case required to sustain a money laundering prosecution. The CBI FIR alleged cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and offences under Prevention of Corruption Act. Goyal has denied allegations of fraud, diversion and siphoning of funds for personal use.