The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will soon file a prosecution complaint (chargesheet) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act against the Sandesara brothers, promoters of a Gujarat-based pharmaceutical company Sterling Biotech and wanted in a case worth over Rs 5,000 crore bank loan fraud case.
The ED will subsequently seek Interpol Red Corner Notices against the accused brothers and others even as their exact locations remains unknown. The brothers are suspected to be changing locations from UAE to Nigeria, officials said. The charge sheet under PMLA is expected to be filed before a special court here within the next fortnight, they said.
The ED had earlier filed few charge sheets case against other accused persons.
The agency said it had registered a PMLA case against the Sandesara brothers—Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara and Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara—and their Vadodara-based company Sterling Biotech Limited and others on October 27 last year, two days after a case of alleged bank fraud of Rs 5,700 crore and corruption was filed against them by the CBI. “Loans to the tune of Rs 5,700 crore was disbursed by various banks during the years 2004-2012. Look Out Circulars (LOCs) were opened against the accused in August, 2017. During the course of investigation, three persons were arrested, one of them Gagan Dhawan, who was close to the power centre when the loans were sanctioned,” the ED said in a statement.
It added that the agency has already attached properties worth Rs 4,703 crore and is looking for “more properties and trails for the proceeds of crime” in this case.
The ED and the CBI have booked the company, its directors-- the Sandesara brothers, Dipti Chetan Sandesara, Rajbhushan Omprakash Dixit, Vilas Joshi, chartered accountant Hemant Hathi, former director Andhra Bank Anup Garg and some unidentified persons in connection with the alleged bank fraud case. PNS