jun 11th
reminds me of the war of the roses. rather intriguing, these goings-on. personally speaking, i have always thought jet airways (india) does a great job of flying people around. they are a little like jetblue, only better service, in my opinion.
are they a front for dawood? i have no idea. but it's an interesting little allegation.
Fresh 'terrorist link proof' filed against Jet India
Lalit K Jha (HindustanTimes.com)
Minneapolis, June 11, 2005
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1395526,00050001.htm?headline=Fresh~terror~link~proof~filed~against~Jet~India
Maintaining its allegations of terrorist connections of the Jet Airways
(India), the American Jet Airways Inc. on Friday filed another affidavit
before the US Department of Transportation along with documents and a
compact disc (CD) in support of its charges against the popular private
Indian airliner.
These documents and the CD, containing 'confidential information' and fresh
evidences collected by the Jet Airways Inc. against Jet Airways in the past
ten days, has also been submitted to the powerful Department of Homeland
Security and the Department of Treasury for further verification and
authentication, the affidavit revealed.
Despite repeated strong rebuttal of the allegations and announcement of
proceeding with legal defamatory action against its rival by the Jet Airways
India this week, the president and chief executive officer of the Jet
Airways Inc, Nancy M Heckerman, in her affidavit, seems to be more focused
and bold in reiterating her allegations against the Indian airliner and its
chief, Naresh Goyal.
"Naresh Goyal is trying to enter the United Stats to fulfill his obligation
to his Al-Qaeda creditors. Jet Airways Inc is fighting to protect the United
States from another invasion by a well known Al-Qaeda Specially Designated
Global Terrorist," she alleged.
Heckerman in her affidavit claimed that the new evidences substantiate
Goyal's alleged links with Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar. "It is through the Kaskar
family that the Jet Airways India received most of the original funds from
1991 to 1993," she alleged.
It also alleged that Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar was the financer of Jet Airways
(India) and is involved in the fuel business in India. "Anyone in the
aviation industry in India is aware of this fact," Heckerman claimed in her
affidavit.
Reiterating her allegations, the affidavit said: "The Jet Airways India must
prove beyond a reasonable doubt that its owner is not associated with Dawood
Ibrahim Kaskar and the Al-Qaeda. Naresh Goyal has a long standing
relationship with Dawood Ibrahim."
Stating that it was still in the process of collecting information against
the Jet Airways (India) and the issue was also under investigations by
Department of Homeland Security, the Jet Airways Inc. urged the Department
of Transportation not to give its decision till that time.
Another few weeks to determine the truth and the proof of facts of the
allegations is not going to affect the status of both the companies, but the
seriousness of the matter would affect the outcome of the DOT's decision an
the security of the United States, it argued.
Commenting on the Jet Airways (India) charges that it was a "shell company",
the affidavit said: "Whether the Jet Airways Inc has never flown or is a 20
years old airline is not the subject matter; the reason for the objection is
the applicant's Al-Qaeda ties to its airline".
The Jet Airways Inc. claimed its charges were not 'scurrilous' as alleged by
Jet Airways, but they were "actual and intended predicate and over acts
because of their origin".
It alleged that most of the money raised by the Jet Airways (India) IPO was
pumped into the market by Dawood Ibrahim through "hawala". It has been
informed that some of the Jet Airways (India) IPO stock was bought through
parties under this system.
Raising a series of questions for the Jet Airways (India), the affidavit
asked: "Where are those copies of the original transfer for the initial
$10,000,000 that Naresh Goyal claims to have started his airline with in
1991 and where did they come from? Why does Jet Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. Own
the Jet Airways (India) brand name? Who receives all of the benefits from
Tail Winds?"
There is an urgent need to investigate these allegations by the Department
of Treasury and through a competent jurisdiction of a US District Court, the
affidavit urged the Department of Transportation.
3 comments:
I don't think I'll shed any tears for Jet, after all, was it not behind scuttling the Tata-Singapore Arlines venture? So it's getting a taste of its own medicine. I can see the possibility that there is some truth in these allegations. If so, what was our Govt. doing?
Jet is NOT really an Indian company anyway, is it? It is based in Mauritius (and is headed by a businessman of, well, intriguing character).
In any case, I'll take the newer budget airlines any day over Jet...
- Nanda Kishore
I kind of agree with Nanda Kishore (anonymous) -- the ownership of Jet India is a bit suspect. This Naresh Goyal dude looks more like a puppet than a real owner of a 40-aircraft fleet airline!
But the ownership of Jet Airways goes beyond Dawood and terrorists. Some even say that certain other tainted buisnessmen and politicians have stake in it. That's why Jet got all sorts of overseas rights clearances just before it IPO closed. The IPO, as you may have guessed, became a success.
Wonder if any of the middle eastern airlines (and Pak) would qualify to fly into the US, going by the Al Qaeda - Jet logic !! With 1.5 MM tickets sold in the US-India sector annually (~$2.5 bn sales), it is a shame that the ticket prices are where they are, not to mention the unavailability of seats. Anything that increases competition is great news.
(Air India should wise up and make use of this historic opportunity with the open skies.. and not cede ground to everyone from Emirates to Korean)
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