This case mainly pertains to bank loan fraud, money laundering and diverting funds through shell companies. The special thing is that in this fraud, the name of even the veteran Congress leader late Ahmed Patel had come to the fore. For this reason, ED had also interrogated Patel. However, Patel had denied any kind of illicit relations. One of the accused had told that Ahmed Patel’s son Faisal Patel and son-in-law Irfan Siddiqui had contacts with the Sandesara family. Faisal Patel used to organize parties at Chetan Sandesara’s farm house in Delhi, the expenses of which were borne by Sandesara.
Started tea business
The Sandesara family had a tea trading business. In the 1980s, Nitin and Chetan Sandesara expanded this business to many sectors like oil and gas, health care, construction and engineering. The group has been dominant in Nigeria’s crude oil business. The Nigerian government made the Sandesara brothers partners in many of its projects. Their influence in Nigeria can be gauged from the fact that when the Indian government asked for their extradition, the government there flatly refused.
Scam exposed in 2017
2017 was the year when the cracks in this empire began to become apparent. CBI registered a case of fraud of Rs 5,383 crore against Sterling Biotech and its promoters. The allegation was that the company took loans worth thousands of crores of rupees from many banks and used them for personal interests instead of business needs. On the basis of CBI’s FIR, ED also registered a case of money laundering. Investigation revealed that many foreign companies of Sandesara Group had taken loans worth Rs 9,000 crore from foreign branches of Indian banks. This money was neither used as per the objectives written in the files nor for the development of any business. Rather, the money continued to circulate abroad through shell companies and complex networks.
Promoters fled the country in 2017
As soon as the case was registered in India, the accused members of the Sandesara family fled the country. In the year 2018, he was declared a fugitive. In the year 2023, properties worth Rs 9 thousand 778 crore of Sandesara Group were attached. These include oil rigs in Nigeria, a jet and luxurious flat in London.
Coin used in Nigeria
The Sandesara family has a huge business empire in Nigeria. This family also gets along well with the government there. About 20 years ago he entered Nigeria’s oil industry. According to CBI, Sandesara brothers had also applied for Nigerian citizenship. Nigeria is the largest oil producing country in Africa. The Sandesara brothers quickly filled the void created in the oil business after the exit of big companies like Shell and ExxonMobil.
His companies Sterling Oil Exploration & Production Company and Sterling Global Oil Resources Ltd used to extract about 50,000 barrels of crude oil daily. Due to such a large operation, he held a special place in the power circle there. When India asked for his extradition, Nigeria clearly refused.
parties and power games
Sandesara has been known not only for business but also for his grandeur. His farmhouse parties were famous in Gujarat and he continued this tradition in Nigeria also. Many high-profile people from both India and Nigeria used to attend the grand parties given on Diwali.
