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ED searches Naresh Goyal's premises; Deccan Chronicle promoters also raided

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials on Friday conducted searches at more than a dozen properties belonging to Naresh Goyal, founder of the now-grounded Jet Airways, in connection with a case of alleged contravention of the foreign exchange laws.

Sources here said the ED investigators conducted raids at more than 12 places in Mumbai and Delhi, including Goyal's residence.

Jet Airways stopped its operations indefinitely earlier this year because of its colossal debt, leaving thousands of employees without a job overnight.

Jet Airways came under the financial probe agency's scanner when it started investigating irregularities in a deal that the airline's loyalty programme Jet Privilege signed up with Etihad Airways.

The deal, pegged at more than Rs 900 crore, was signed in 2014 and allegedly allowed the foreign airline to hold more than 50 percent stake in the Indian company, thus, contravening provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

Goyal stepped down as the chief of Jet Airways in March 2019 and later it was revealed in a Ministry of Corporate Affairs report that there were multiple discrepancies in the airline's books and noted irregularities in the way the company maintained its records, including the possibility of diversion of funds.

The report also indicated several violations of the Companies Act after which the Serious Fraud Investigation Office started a probe in the matter. The SFIO has called Goyal for questioning in the case multiple times since then.

Meanwhile, premises of the promoters of Deccan Chronicle Holdings, T Venkattram Reddy and T Vinayakravi Reddy were also raided by ED sleuths in a PMLA case based on an earlier CBI probe, where the agency had filed a charge-sheet and arrested the former in 2015. Officials here said two luxury cars, Rs 5 lakh in demonetised currency and other incriminating documents were recovered from the search operation, which would help the investigators to establish the money trail in the alleged money-laundering process.

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