Sterling Biotech group case accused Hitesh Patel detained in Albania

A key accused in the Rs 8,100-crore bank loan fraud involving Sterling Biotech and a US citizen, Hitesh Narendra Bhai Patel, has been detained in Tirana, Albania. He was detained on Thursday after the Interpol issued a red corner notice (RCN) against him on the request of Enforcement Directorate (ED). The notice was issued on March 11.

The Indian agencies will now seek Patel’s extradition, said people with direct knowledge of the matter. Patel is the brother-in-law of main accused, Nitin and Chetan Sandesara. The agency has so far attached assets worth Rs 4,700 crores.

The Sandesaras are currently hiding in Nigeria where they have invested in crude oil production.


ET was the first to report on October 12 that probe agencies are examining whether top government officials in the UPA-II regime and banks facilitated Vadodara-based Sterling Biotech, owned by the Sandesara family, to commit the fraud.

Although the Reserve Bank of India declared it a “wilful defaulter” in 2012, the Sandesara Group raised over $80 million (Rs 589 crore) from abroad, people with knowledge of the matter told ET.

Nitin Sandesara, managing director of Sterling Biotech, is wanted by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the ED in a Rs 5,000-crore bank fraud case. ED had filed a chargesheet earlier this week accusing the Sandesaras of laundering over `8,000 crores by opening 174 shell companies. A total of 195 people were chargesheeted by the agency.

ET was the first to report on October 25 that ED will move court seeking the tag of fugitive economic offender(s) against four accused in the Sterling Biotech case.

The agency has moved the court against Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara, Managing Director (MD) of Sterling Biotech; Nitin’s brother Chetan Sandesara, his wife Dipti Sandesara and Hitesh Patel.

ED has submitted details of the forensic audits conducted by State Bank of India and Andhra Bank, Mumbai, of companies formed by the Sandesaras. When the audit teams visited the addresses, they found a residential chawl, a slum rehabilitation centre and vacant buildings.

Elaborating on the modus-operandi in its charge sheet, the agency had submitted that “loan funds we-re diverted for non-mandated purposes, necessary disclosures were not made, loan funds were withdrawn as cash and payments were made to non-existent parties.”

Also, “huge non-justified payments to directors (Sandesaras)” has been underlined in the 300-page charge sheet, exclusively accessed by ET. The agency claims to have recovered 10 lakh pages of documents and 200 digital devices during searches of the Sandesaras’s premises.

The agency listed assets owned by the Sandesaras in foreign countries including Nigeria. These include four oil drilling rigs in the Niger delta region, oil evacuation and transportation assets valued at about $172 million and seismic survey equipment worth $98 million. There are also four oil blocks in the Niger delta region acquired in 2008 of which two blocks started producing oil in 2010.