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Lenders’ plea in the Supreme Court against the Jalan Kalrock consortium (JKC) is an afterthought and ploy to delay the handover of Jet Airways to us, said the consortium.
On Monday, lenders, led by the State Bank of India, moved an application in the Supreme Court, raising concerns about the resolution of Jet Airways, which shut operations in April 2019. Lenders submitted to the court that JKC has no intention to implement the resolution plan. The financial package offered in the resolution plan is for ₹4,783 crore, and the consortium has struggled to pay first tranche of ₹350 crore.
source of funds
The banks also questioned the consortium’s source of funds in the light of fraud investigations faced by Florian Fritsch, one of its promoters. JKC, which was selected to revive the airline in 2020, is expected to submit its argument before a bench headed by Chief Justice Dhananjaya Chandrachud on Thursday.
“The investigation relating to Florian was in the media since 2022. If lenders have concerns about these litigations and his credentials, why did they not take a stand on it before receiving funds. It is clearly evident to all courts that this is an afterthought of the lenders only to delay the handover of the company to JKC,” said the consortium in an e-mailed response.
“Fresh section 29A compliance affidavit for all entities were submitted to lenders on 28th September and 3rd October. The same was informed by resolution professional counsel in National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) yesterday. The NCLT has now directed them to file an affidavit in this regard so nothing is pending in this regard,” it added.
Section 29A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) spells out who is ineligible to submit a resolution plan. Lenders had sought affidavits from JKC confirming their eligibility and continued compliance with Section 29A of the IBC in light of the investigations.
Along with concerns over source of funds and fraud investigation, lenders have cited ongoing litigation and non-compliances by the consortium. These pertain to fulfillment of conditions precedent, payment of provident fund, non payment of aircraft parking dues and dispute over rentals received from lease of plane.
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