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Mumbai: Registrar of Companies, Mumbai, has initiated inspection of the books of Jet Airways, almost eight months after the corporate affairs ministry (MCA) directed it to probe allegations that the now grounded airline siphoned off money, two officials familiar with the development said.
The RoC is likely to call the erstwhile directors of the airline, including its founder Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita, if need be, in the course of the probe, one of them said.
“The records are being probed to check if there were any instances of over invoicing and related party transactions,” the official told ET on condition of anonymity.
RoC, Mumbai, is not the first agency probing the airline.
In September last year, income tax officials had carried out a survey at the business premises of the airline based on specific information.
I-T investigation wing completed the probe recently, department insiders told ET.
They suspect there were some irregularities in transactions between Jet Airways and its Dubai-based group companies that helped it evade taxes worth around Rs 650 crore.
The report is with the assessment division, which will seek a reply from Jet and decide whether or not to raise a tax demand, the sources said.
An email sent to Jet didn’t elicit a response till the time of going to press on Friday.
MCA had called for RoC probe at the time when Jet was delaying its announcement of its June quarter result, said the second official cited earlier.
“There are reports of siphoning of funds,” the official said.
“While allegations of money laundering isn’t probed by the agency, the RoC will surely look at…if fraud was committed, if there are instances of deliberate acts of omission, concealment of facts, and submission of reports which were false.”
