The founder of Jet Airways, Naresh Goyal, was arrested by India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday. He faced questioning at the agency’s Mumbai office as part of an alleged Rs5.38 billion ($65.06 million) money laundering case linked to Canara Bank.
Goyal is scheduled to appear before the Bombay PMLA court on Saturday. The case stems from an FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in May of this year.
Canara Bank had lodged a complaint in May, implicating the airline, Goyal, his spouse, and a former airline director for causing financial harm to the lender.
As per the FIR, the bank claimed to have granted credit limits and loans totaling Rs848.86 crore to Jet Airways. Jet Airways and the ED were unavailable for immediate comment.
Once India’s largest private airline, Jet Airways faced a financial crisis in April 2019 and subsequently filed for bankruptcy. It was expected to resume operations by the first quarter of 2022 under new ownership. However, it remains entangled in disputes with creditors regarding the resolution plan to exit bankruptcy.