3 years, no chargesheet: Naresh Goyal seeks exit from Jet Airways money laundering case

While Goyal has claimed that of the Rs 538.62 crore facility given by Canara Bank, Rs 365.57 crore were non-fund based, in the form of letters of credit which were directly paid to vendors and remaining as payments towards oil companies and airport operators. (File)

Stating that the CBI is yet to file a chargesheet against him in the Jet Airways alleged Rs 538 crore loan siphoning case three years after the FIR, founder 77-year-old Naresh Goyal has filed a discharge plea in the connected case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED has opposed his plea stating that this cannot be a ground for him to be let off, calling Goyal, who was a non-executive chairman of the aviation company, the ‘ultimate controlling mind’ of Jet Airways.

Goyal’s plea also says that a consortium of lenders has already initiated appropriate proceedings to recover the alleged debts. Goyal has also denied any siphoning of loans, claiming that the aviation company faced financial challenges due to factors beyond his control including competition by low-cost airlines and increase in aviation fuel prices.

An FIR was filed by the CBI on May 3, 2023, following a complaint by Canara Bank alleging that Goyal and others had used loans given for the operation of the airline for personal use, including in buying of properties in India, London and Dubai. Within days, the ED filed a complaint based on the CBI case as a predicate offence, to probe alleged laundering of the money into offshore accounts.

“The CBI is yet conducting the investigation with regards to the FIR since the last 3 years and has not come to any conclusion that the applicant has committed any crime and the funds in the present offence is actually the proceeds of crime. First, a predicate offence must exist, CBI has so far not disclosed valid predicate offence,” Goyal’s plea states adding that no public servant too has been named, even though the CBI has invoked the Prevention of Corruption Act in the FIR.

As per the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, under which the ED has filed a case against Goyal, without a predicate offence, the money-laundering case cannot go on. The CBI, however, has not given Goyal a clean chit yet either. The ED has therefore said that the non-filing of the FIR cannot be a tenable ground to consider his discharge from its case.

“The actions of the accused strike at the very foundation of the nation’s financial health, demonstrating a calculated bleeding of corporate assets into offshore trusts and related-party accounts under the guise of legitimate business expenditures,” the ED said.

Goyal was arrested by the ED in September 2023 and was granted bail in 2024 on medical grounds. In his plea, Goyal has said that he continues to suffer health issues and is also emotionally incapacitated after the death of his wife Anita Goyal in 2024.

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While Goyal has claimed that of the Rs 538.62 crore facility given by Canara Bank, Rs 365.57 crore were non-fund based, in the form of letters of credit which were directly paid to vendors and remaining as payments towards oil companies and airport operators. The ED alleged that the funds were used for his personal benefit by showing inflated expenses including towards payments for operation of the airline.

The airline had suspended operations in 2019, with staffers losing their jobs. Goyal’s plea says that the National Company Law Tribunal initiated liquidation proceedings were ordered in 2024, claiming that the sale of assets of the airways including aircraft land, buildings, vehicles, hangars, will result in realisation of more than Rs 3500 crore, which will be used for repayment of debts.

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