Mumbai's High Court has dismissed a money laundering case against Jet Airways (JAI, Mumbai International) founder Naresh Goyal and his wife, Anita Goyal. It follows the same court issuing a restraining order last month temporarily preventing India's Directorate of Enforcement (ED) from taking any investigative action against the couple.
The duo were first charged by Mumbai Police with conspiracy, forgery, and cheating offences in February 2020. Those charges were later withdrawn but the ED, the federal agency charged with enforcing financial laws, subsequently took up the case, alleging money laundering. Jet Airways collapsed in April 2019 with approximately USD1.2 billion in debts after failing to secure emergency capital funding.
On January 17, 2023, the Goyals secured a “no coercive action” order that prevented the ED from questioning the couple or otherwise "actively" investigating them. Counsel for the Goyals successfully argued that given the original charges had been withdrawn, there was nothing left to investigate, an argument the High Court judges had also previously indicated they agreed with. Nonetheless, the ED had pushed on with attempting the prosecute the couple.
On February 23, Ravi Kadam, representing the Goyals, told the court that the ED's argument "could not be sustained" and in the absence of a proven offence, had to be dismissed. "The law is clear on the issue," said Kadam. "Nothing survives to argue." Justice Revati Mohite-Dere and Justice Prithviraj K Chavan agreed, quashing the money laundering and all other charges against the Goyals.
