Enough material against Naresh Goyal, wife to process money laundering case: Court

At this point, there is enough evidence to establish a preliminary indication of the involvement of Naresh Goyal, the founder of Jet Airways, and his wife Anita in a money laundering investigation related to an alleged Rs 538 crore fraud at Canara Bank. A special court has acknowledged the Enforcement Directorate's chargesheet against the couple in this matter. Alongside the Goyals, four companies, namely Jet Airways (India) Ltd (JIL), Jetair Pvt Ltd, Jet Enterprises Pvt Ltd, and Jet Airways LLC in Dubai, have also been identified as accused parties in the case.

M G Deshpande, the special judge hearing cases filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), took cognizance of the chargesheet on November 1, while a detailed order was made available on Friday. The court also asked the Goyals to remain present before it on November 9.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Goyal on September 1 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following a long session of questioning at the central agency's office here. The 74-year-old businessman is currently in judicial custody and lodged at Arthur Road Jail in central Mumbai.

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 executives of the now grounded private airline in connection with an alleged Rs 538-crore fraud at state-run Canara Bank.

The court order noted the allegations made in the complaint (chargesheet), facts revealed from the statements recorded under the PMLA and bank statements prima facie indicate Canara Bank's branch at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) in suburban Mumbai had extended a loan Rs 848.86 crore to JIL, of which Rs 538.62 crore is currently outstanding.

The investigation carried out so far by the ED has revealed that public money worth Rs 5716.34 crore, obtained from a consortium of banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB), is the total proceeds of crime (POC) generated from criminal activities related to the scheduled offence by JIL and its promoters.

Copies of documents attached with the prosecution complaint (chargesheet) prima facie indicate there is huge diversion and siphoning off funds by the accused, the court said. It said the role attributed to accused No. 1 (Naresh Goyal) and No. 2 (Anita Goyal) for themselves and their companies is prominent from the complaint, copies of documents and statements recorded under the PMLA. Prima facie this much material is sufficient to hold the involvement of the accused persons in the offence alleged against them, the judge noted.