Sandesara loan fraud bigger than PNB scam : Enforcement Directorate
The Enforcement Directorate has claimed that the fraud committed by Sterling Biotech’s Sandesara brothers is much bigger than Nirav Modi’s PNB scam.
ANI has quoted ED officials stating that the Sterling Biotech Limited and its main promoters Nitin Sandesara, Chetan Sandesara and Deepti Sandesara have cheated a consortium of Indian banks to the tunes of Rs 14,000 crores. Nirav Modi’s PNB scam was estimated to be over 11,000 crores.
The ED registered a case after the Central Bureau of Investigation lodged an FIR in October 2017 on account of cheating and bank fraud to the tune of Rs. 5383 crore against the said company and its promoters.
According to the sources, during the investigation, it was revealed that overseas companies of Sandesara Group had availed a loan of around Rs 9000 crore from foreign branches of Indian banks.
The official further mentioned that the SBL Group had obtained both Indian and foreign currency loans from Indian banks.
Loans were sanctioned by a consortium of banks led by Andhra Bank, UCO Bank, State Bank of India, Allahabad Bank and Bank of India, sources said.
During the investigation, it was also revealed that funds obtained from loans were diverted for non-mandated purposes, layered and laundered through a web of multiple domestic as well as offshore entities.
The main promoters have not only siphoned off loan funds to finance their Nigerian oil business but also for their personal purposes.
The ED had attached Rs 9,778 crore worth of property. These properties included oil rigs, fields, aeroplane and ships in Nigeria along with a house in London. “This is in addition to assets worth Rs 4,730 crore attached by ED in 2018 which was confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority under PMLA, in the case registered by the Directorate after CBI had registered an FIR in October 2017 for cheating and fraud to the tune of Rs 5,383 crore against the said company and its promoters,” the ED said.
The probe had also revealed that the promoters had used their employees’ names and incorporated 249 domestic and 96 offshore shell firms.
Nitin Sandesara was apprehended by the Dubai police in August last year. He is reportedly known as a close aide of Congress leader Ahmed Patel. Hitesh Patel, another ain promoter of the SBL, was detained in the European country of Albania in March this year.
A Red-Corner notice had been issued against him on the 11th of March. He has been detained by Albania’s National Crime Bureau-Tirana. He is also expected to be extradited to India soon.