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NEW DELHI: In a first of its kind order to drop criminal proceedings in a multi-crore bank fraud case after the accused agreed to pay back the money, Supreme Court allowed fugitive Sandesara brothers – Nitin and Chetan of Sterling Biotech Ltd – and their associates to be let off after the Centre and Enforcement Directorate agreed to their proposal to pay Rs 5,100 crore as one-time settlement (OTS) to put quietus on the litigations with respect to cases by CBI, ED, SFIO and income tax department. The siblings have till Dec 17 to deposit the amount.Though the bench said its order should not be treated as a precedent, some in govt think it might have implications for cases involving fugitives such as Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya who can seek similar relief.Trial futile as public money is returning to banks: SCA bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi in its November 19 judgment said continuation of criminal proceedings would not serve any useful purpose, considering that public money is coming back to lender banks.Centre, after consulting various agencies, which were pursuing cases against the Sandesaras, gave the figure of Rs 5,100 crore as OTS and the assurance that it will have no objection to quashing of criminal proceedings against the accused. “In view of the foregoing, subject to deposit of Rs 5,100 crore as indicated towards full and final settlement with the lender banks and investigating agencies, these petitions deserve to be allowed granting the following reliefs – writ petitions filed by the petitioners are allowed directing quashing of proceedings. ..The quashing would be operative on deposit of Rs 5,100 crore as a full and final payment based on consensus, on or before Dec 17, 2025,” the order said.”The litigation with respect to the loan amount of the petitioners for which FIR was registered and OTS was sanctioned and approved, shall be put to an end by way of full and final settlement as per consensus and this litigation shall be put to quietus. These directions as issued are in peculiar facts of this case, therefore, they shall not be treated as precedent,” the order said. SC directed its registry to disburse the amount to the respective lender banks on proportionate basis.The willingness of Sandesara brothers also marks a success of agencies in choking their funds and leaving them with few options than to negotiate. Besides them, Chetan’s wife Dipti and family member Hitesh Patel were also declared Fugitive Economic Offenders in Sept 2020. The four, including the Sandesara brothers, had pending non-bailable warrants against them and have been forced to move from country to country, including Nigeria, the UAE, the UK and the US to escape arrest since 2017, according to ED.Late Congress neta Ahmed Patel, political adviser to Sonia Gandhi, was among the dozens who were investigated for their alleged dealings with the Sandesaras. ED had attached more than Rs 14,500 crore of assets in this case, which included Rs 4,700 crore in India and over Rs 9,778 crore overseas, including oil rigs, ships, aircraft and properties in the US, the UK and other countries, an action that brought the Sandesaras under pressure.Govt’s acceptance of the Sandesaras’s offer is also for the fact that a large part of the attached assets are in foreign jurisdictions and were difficult to realise because most were paper attachments, and foreign countries were not cooperating with ED orders, sources said.They also said the Sandesaras owed over Rs 14,000 crore, including interest and penalties to banks, and banks have recovered almost Rs 3,500 crore through deposits by the fugitive siblings and by selling off properties worth Rs 1,100 crore through insolvency. After OTS, banks will have recovered Rs 8,600 crore – a good amount, considering that they very often take haircuts of up to 80% during insolvency proceedings.The bench noted that proceedings in the case from inception were focused on bringing back public money as the accused had agreed to pay back the amount. Go to Source
