In a dramatic development that marks India's largest money laundering recovery, fugitive businessmen Nitin and Chetan Sandesara have committed to paying Rs 5,100 crore to lender banks, pushing the total recovery in the Sterling Biotech case to nearly Rs 10,000 crore - significantly more than what the financial institutions were owed.
Record-Breaking Recovery Under PMLA
The Enforcement Directorate's fresh calculations reveal that with this latest commitment, the total recoveries from the Sandesara brothers would now exceed Rs 9,800 crore, dwarfing the banks' original demand of Rs 6,700 crore as one-time settlement. This development comes a day after the Supreme Court took on record the brothers' offer to pay Rs 5,100 crore in exchange for dropping criminal proceedings and allowing them to return to India to run their business.
According to official sources, the government has already recovered Rs 4,700 crore from the Sandesaras' Sterling Biotech Ltd since 2018, when the agency began its money laundering probe. During this period, ED attached more than Rs 14,500 crore worth of their assets in India and abroad, including oil rigs, ships and aircraft in Nigeria.
The Fugitive Economic Offender Factor
The breakthrough in bringing the brothers to the negotiating table is being credited to their declaration as fugitive economic offenders in September 2020. This legal status significantly strengthened ED's position by enabling the agency to seek confiscation of all their properties, regardless of whether they were proceeds of crime or untainted assets.
A senior official explained: "It is the continuous pressure created by ED and the coordinated approach of other agencies that compelled the group to eventually seek a resolution on terms acceptable to the lenders and the state. What appears on the surface as a concession is in reality the final step in a long process of enforcement, asset-tracing and legal action."
Substantial Net Restitution Achieved
The financial recovery in this case has been substantial from multiple channels. The Sandesara brothers and their SBL had already paid Rs 3,508 crore during various legal proceedings before different courts. Additionally, insolvency proceedings against their group entities yielded another Rs 1,192 crore.
An official highlighted the significance of these recoveries: "The total realization becomes significant. The amounts already recovered along with what is now being ordered by SC add up to Rs 9,800 crore. This is nearly double the figure alleged in the FIR and shows that the enforcement and recovery process has resulted in substantial net restitution to the banking system."
Notably, the CBI's FIR registered in 2017 had alleged diversion and defaults by the group amounting to Rs 5,383 crore. The lender banks had later proposed one-time settlement for all dues at Rs 6,761 crore. The current recoveries of nearly Rs 10,000 crore have exceeded even the banks' expectations.
The successful resolution also brings relief to several high-profile individuals whose assets were attached as "proceeds of crime" due to their links with SBL. These include properties of actors Sanjay Khan (Rs 3 crore), Dino Morea (Rs 1.4 crore), DJ Aqeel (Rs 2 crore), Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's political secretary the late Ahmed Patel (Rs 2.5 crore) and his son-in-law Irfan Siddiqui's properties worth Rs 2.4 crore, besides 23 luxury vehicles of the Sandesara brothers and their associates.
