The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday arrested Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal in the alleged Rs 538 crore Canara Bank fraud case, officials said.
Goyal,74, was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), after he was questioned by the central agency for hours earlier today.
Now, Goyal will likely be produced before a special PMLA court in Mumbai on Saturday. Here the ED will seek for his custodial remand.
The move follows the ongoing investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Goyal, his wife Anita and some former company executives in connection with the fraud case.
ED had also in July conducted aids at multiple locations in Delhi and Mumbai pertaining to Goyal and his close associates.
The CBI had filed an FIR regarding this in May this year.
The was filed FIR on the basis of the Canara Bank’s complaint, alleging that it had sanctioned credit limits and loans to Jet Airways (India) Limited (JIL) of Rs 848.86 crore, of which an amount of Rs 538.62 crore is outstanding.
According to Canara Bank, they had sanctioned a credit limit facility to Jet Airways, but the airline defrauded the bank of Rs 538.62 crore.
The bank said that it had provided credit limits and loans amounting to Rs 848.86 crore to Jet Airways, with Rs 538.62 crore outstanding. The airline diverted a portion of the loan to related companies as commissions.
A forensic audit of the company revealed fraudulent transactions involving fund diversion from the loan amount. Expenses listed as paid commissions to related companies actually included costs related to the Goyal family and other individuals involved in the scam.
The airline had reported spending Rs 11,152.62 crore on professional and consultancy expenses, with Rs 197.57 crore of those transactions deemed suspicious during the investigation into the company’s financial records from April 1, 2011, to June 30, 2019.
These entities had turnovers similar to the expense amounts recorded by Jet Airways under the guise of professional and consultancy expenses.
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