New Delhi, October 26: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday moved a special court here to get declared the owners of Gujarat-based Sterling Biotech group, charged in an alleged Rs 8,100-crore bank loan fraud case, as fugitive economic offenders under a new law, the agency said.
They said the central agency had filed a plea before a special court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), seeking to declare Nitin Sandesara, Chetan Sandesara, Dipti Sandesara and Hitesh Patel fugitives under Section 4 of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, brought by the Modi government this year to check cases of large bank frauds and similar crimes.
“All the four are promoters of the Sterling Group and have fled the country to avoid criminal probe against them in a Rs 8,100-crore bank loan fraud involving a consortium of banks,” a senior official said.
The agency has also sought immediate confiscation of the assets, in India and abroad, worth over Rs 7,000 crore of the Vadodara-based business family as part of the action under the new law.
The court subsequently issued notices to all of them.
