The CBI has searched seven sites, including the offices of Jet Airways and its founder Naresh Goyal, in connection with an alleged bank fraud case totaling £53.8 million. On May 3, the organisation lodged a formal complaint against Goyal, his wife, and the former airline director Gaurang Ananda Shetty. Last week's searches were spread across residences of Anita and Shetty as well, sources said.
The FIR, filed on the complaint of Canara Bank, had detailed alleged siphoning of funds through payments made to process and consultancy expenses. “It was noted that £115.26 million was incurred towards professional and consultancy expenses during the review period 1. 4. 2011 to 30. 6. 2019. Out of these, suspicious transactions to the tune of £19.75 million were identified in the case of entities which were linked to JIL, i e key managerial personnel of JIL were also linked to these entities,” the FIR claims.
“It is observed that professional and consultancy expenses to the extent of £42.04 million out of £115.26 million were paid to entities whose nature of business is different from the service description in their invoices raised on JIL,” it further reads.
The bank also noted that the turnover of these firms was comparable to the expense amount JIL was recording against those entities as professional and consultancy fees.