Jet Airways’ related firm paid ₹20 crore to buy SoBO flats for Goyal family: ED

Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal and his family used INR 20 crore ($2.7m) borrowed from the airline to buy four flats in Mumbai, according to India's Enforcement Directorate. The sum was diverted from a related entity of Jet Airways, which had borrowed INR 538.62 crore from Canara Bank. The ED has filed charges against Goyal, his wife, and four firms as part of its investigation into the INR 538.62 crore fraud case. Goyal was arrested in September.

An amount of ₹20 crore was transferred from Jet Airways’ related entity to a realty firm towards purchasing four flats in south Mumbai for the family members of Naresh Goyal, the grounded airline’s founder, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has said in its chargesheet.

Jet Airway Chairman Naresh Goyal with his wife Aneeta Goyal during the press conference at his residence. Jet Airways Ltd on Thursday its board had approved the acquisition of Air Sahara for $500 million. HT PHOTO BY MANOJ PATIL. 19/01/2006 (HT PHOTO)

This sum was diverted from a related entity of Jet Airways (India) Limited, which had borrowed ₹538.62 crore from Canara Bank between 2011 and 2019 and the loan account was declared a non-performing asset in June 2019, it said.

The agency has named six people - Goyal, his wife Anita, and four firms, Jet Airways (India) Limited, Jet Air Private Limited, Jet Enterprises Private Limited and Jet Airways LLC, Dubai – in the chargesheet as part of its probe into the ₹538.62-crore fraud.

The chargesheet was submitted before a special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court on Tuesday.

ED alleged that Anita had in 2016 approached a realty firm as she was interested in buying four flats in its ongoing project at Carmichael Road. After negotiations, it was decided that each flat would cost ₹40 crore and in May 2017, three memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed between Anita, her daughter Namrata, son Nivaan and the realty firm, the chargesheet said.

Later, as the realty firm did not receive any further amount from the Goyal family, it tried to convince them to make the full payment and to get the flats registered in their names, the agency said. However, the Goyal family could not make the full payment. The realty firm then decided to forfeit the ₹60 crore it had received and cancel the allotment of flats, the chargesheet said.

After negotiations with the Goyal family, the realty firm agreed to cancel the sale of the flats and to forfeit only ₹30 crore. “ ₹30 crore was refunded to them, and the cancellation agreement was executed on October 14, 2020. However, there was no clause of forfeiture in the three MoUs that were signed,” the chargesheet said, adding ₹25 crore of the refunded ₹30 crore was given to Jet Air Private Limited while the Goyal family got only ₹5 crore.

The money that was given by the realty firm to Jet Air Private Limited was further invested in various entities, the ED probe found.

The chargesheet has also claimed that the money obtained from the sale of some assets of Jet Air Private Limited was transferred to the personal bank accounts of the family members of Goyal.

ED’s scrutiny of a bank account of Jet Air Private Limited revealed that between January 1, 2012 and September 25, 2023, a sum of ₹6.85 crore was transferred to the account of Goyal ‘s wife Anita and ₹1.55 crore to the account of his daughter Namrata. “Namrata Goyal had no association with Jet Air Private Limited. However, she has been receiving substantial amounts regularly,” the chargesheet said.

ED’s money-laundering case is based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in May against Jet Airways (India) Limited, Goyal, his wife Anita, former company executive Gaurang Ananda Shetty and unknown public servants and private persons for causing Canara Bank a loss of ₹538.62 crore. The case was registered under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Goyal was arrested in Mumbai on September 1. The 74-year-old, who suffers from several health problems, is currently lodged in Arthur Road jail. Goyal’s lawyers denied ED’s allegations and said he had cooperated with ED as well as CBI.

ED alleged that Goyal had carried out a massive financial fraud in which the funds of Jet Airways (India) Limited were systematically diverted in the garb of irrational and inflated general sales agent commissions, as large unexplained payouts to various professionals and consultants by granting loans to JetLite Limited (a 100% subsidiary to acquire Air Sahara), and subsequently writing off the loans by making provisions in the balance sheets.