The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday conducted raids at seven locations including the premises of Jet Airways and its founder Naresh Goyal in Mumbai in connection with a bank fraud case. The CBI raided Naresh Goyal's residence and Jet Airways' Mumbai office over an alleged Rs 538-crore fraud case in Canara Bank.
The agency has also registered an FIR against Naresh Goyal, his wife Anita, former director of the airline Gaurang Ananda Shetty and an unknown public servant. The FIR was lodged on Wednesday by an official of the Canara Bank alleging that all the accused caused a wrongful loss of Rs 538.62 crores to the said bank.
According to the FIR accessed by CNBC-TV18, a senior official of the bank lodged a complaint with the CBI in November 2022. The agency initiated the action on the bank's complaint which alleged that it sanctioned credit limits and loans to Jet Airways (India) Ltd (JIL) to the tune of Rs 848.86 crore of which Rs 538.62 crore is outstanding.
It is observed that during 2011-18, Rs. 14,552.44 crores was given as a loan to JLL and in return, Rs 13529.62 crores was received from JLL. Provision was created for the loans given to JLL for year on a year basis where the closing balance of loan amount was Rs 1282.39 crore in FY 2011-12 and by FY 2019-20 it was Rs 2547.83 crores which include the principal amount along with interest charged by JIL to JLL," the complaint alleged.
The complaint said the account was declared fraud on July 29, 2021. Later, the bank alleged that the forensic audit of JIL showed that it paid related companies Rs 1,410.41 crore out of total commission expenses, thus siphoning off funds from JIL.
Among other allegations, it surfaced during the forensic audit that funds were also siphoned off through Jet Lite (India) Ltd ( JLL) by way of making advance and investing and subsequently writing off of the same by making provisions.
The FIR reads, "As per the sample Agreement of Jet Airways (India) Ltd (JlL), it was noted that the expenses of General Selling Agents (GSA) were to be borne by GSA itself and not by JIL."
"However, it was observed that JIL has paid various expenses amounting to Rs 403.27 crore which is not in tune with the GSA. It said personal expenses such as salaries of staff, phone bills and vehicle expenses among others of the Goyal family were paid by JIL."
The JIL diverted the funds for the subsidiary JLL in the form of loans and advances and investments extended.
"The provisions were made by JIL mainly due to continued losses by JLL and JLL's inability to turn around with its business operation," the FIR reads ahead.
Canara Bank has alleged that this transaction delineated that the JIL was transferring borrowed funds to subsidiary/Group companies by whatever modalities and not utilising funds for the intended purpose and that the company also siphoned off funds through payments made to professional and consultancy expenses.
The bank cited these transactions to allege that they were made "towards cheating and misappropriation of funds" by the borrower by "misappropriation and siphoning off funds" borrowed from banks "being utilised for purposes unrelated to the operations of the borrower, to the detriment of the financial health of the entity and/or the lender".
