ED charge sheet names Jet Airways founder Goyal, wife in Rs 538 cr ‘Canara Bank fraud case’

The Enforcement Directorate's charge sheet, filed before a Special Court, came two months after Goyal's arrest on September 1 in the Canara Bank complaint of November 2022

Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has submitted its charge sheet in the Canara Bank’s Rs 538-crore fraud case naming Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal, his wife Anita Goyal, and four other companies, officials said.

The charge sheet, filed before a Special Court, came two months after Goyal’s arrest on September 1 in the Canara Bank complaint of November 2022 alleging that loans given for the airline were allegedly diverted for personal expenses and clearing his private liabilities.

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The matter is likely to come up for further hearing on Wednesday. The bank’s complaint to the CBI in early May 2023 – based on a forensic audit of the company for the period April 2011-June 2019 – led to the ED case on May 10, 2023 under the PMLA as the money-laundering angle emerged in the alleged scam.

After Jet Airways started defaulting on repayments, Canara Bank declared it as a non-performing asset in 2019 and the ED claimed that the loan amount of Rs 538-crore was diverted and siphoned off. Goyal, 74, was arrested by the ED on September 1, and is currently lodged at the Arthur Road Central Jail in judicial custody, even as he has made an application challenging his “illegal” arrest in the case.

The ED has contended that the Goyal allegedly diverted company’s funds, appointing his family members as employees, paying salaries of a company floated by his daughter, paying huge amounts of professional and consultancy fees, dubious expenses, etc to the tune of around Rs 1,000-crore, and unaccounted transactions with payments made to foreign accounts.