Fresh headwinds have emerged for Jet Airways as Florian Fritsch, the founder of one of the new investors in the airline, is being investigated for alleged money laundering charges. 

It has come to light that Fritsch, who had agreed to invest in Jet Airways, is now being investigated over charges of money laundering. Bloomberg reported that investigators in Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Austria raided multiple properties linked to Fritsch.

Meanwhile, reports suggest that the police investigators in the small Alpine principality are evaluating the confiscated evidence from the raids conducted on October 26, Liechtenstein’s Prosecutor General Robert Wallner said in an e-mailed response to questions, without naming Fritsch. Authorities raided the properties and froze other assets tied to Fritsch.

businessline wasn’t able to immediately confirm the said allegations.

Neither did members of the senior leadership at Kalrock Capital respond to businessline’s queries nor did Jet Airways respond.

Last year, Fritsch, who is the founder of investment company Kalrock Capital, agreed to invest in Jet Airways as a part of a consortium with businessman Murari Lal Jalan. The insolvency court had approved the consortium’s revival plan. As per the revival plan, the consortium proposed a total infusion of ₹1,375 crore. This includes ₹900 crore towards capex and working capital and ₹475 crore to settle claims of all creditors.

Jet Airways had been dragged into insolvency in April 2019 over unpaid dues to the tune of ₹8,000 crore. The consortium has not invested any monies into the company so far. A source said: “(It is) sad if they find incriminating stuff. We have a wonderful business plan. Kalrock’s funding only comes in after the ownership transfer.” The ownership transfer, too, hasn’t happened so far.

Meanwhile, the company has posted a net loss of ₹308.24 crore in the three months ended September compared to a loss of ₹305.76 crore in the same period a year ago, according to a regulatory filing.  However, sequentially, the Q2 loss narrowed from ₹390.11 crore in June 2022 quarter. The revenue from operations stood at ₹12.45 crore in Q2FY23, which was lower from ₹41.02 crore in Q2 of the previous fiscal and ₹12.53 crore in June 2022 quarter.

Jet had plans to restart operations almost six months ago. However, the plans have been getting delayed for the past several months. With the new issues in sight, the revival of Jet in November too looks bleak.

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