Jet Airways’ Naresh Goyal sent to 14-day judicial custody in over ₹500 crore bank fraud case

Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal on Thursday sent to 14-day judicial custody in a ₹538 bank fraud case, news agency PTI reported. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Goyal on 1 September under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following a long session of questioning at the central agency's office in Mumbai.

The 74-year-old businessman was produced before the court at the end of his ED remand on Thursday.

Goyal was sent to judicial custody by the court as no further remand was sought by the probe agency.

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'NARESH GOYAL CASE'

Naresh Goyal, 78, has been arrested in an alleged ₹538 crore bank fraud case, siphoning off funds from India to overseas by creating various trusts and using them to buy properties. Goyal did a fraud of ₹538 crore at state-run Canara Bank, as per the probe agency.

The money laundering case stems from an FIR of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Jet Airways, Goyal, his wife Anita, and some former company executives in connection with an alleged ₹538-crore fraud case at Canara Bank. The FIR was registered on the government lender's complaint which alleged it sanctioned credit limits and loans to Jet Airways (India) Ltd to the tune of ₹848.86 crore of which ₹538.62 crore was outstanding.

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However, the business magnate, who once operated India's top private airline, claimed the aviation sector runs based on bank loans, and all the funds cannot be termed as laundering.

His advocates Abbad Ponda, Amit Desai, and Amit Naik have argued that Goyal did not have any loans in his or his family's name or stood as a guarantor for them. Desai argued that a significant amount of bank loan taken (by Jet Airways) prior to 2011 was used for acquiring Sahara Airlines and added "This is a historical event in business." "Not just Jet Airways, other airlines, too, are in a crisis. The aviation sector runs on the basis of funding from banks; all these cannot be termed as laundering," Desai submitted. There is a crisis in the economy and that is why he defaulted in making some repayments, he added.

Goyal, promoter of the now-grounded airline Jet Airways had told the court that his health condition was poor and his body was aching on 11 September hearing. "Can't move my shoulder, knee…I cried the whole night, could die because of this situation, would like to be admitted to a hospital," Goyal said.

What ED said?

The anti-money laundering agency has informed the court that the maximum money that was siphoned off has been stacked in foreign accounts and there is a person in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to look after it and further investigation was needed into the matter. The investigation has further revealed Goyal had purchased high-value properties in Mumbai and subsequently sold the same. He also formed a web of companies in India through which he has acquired a lot of immovable assets