SC clears Sandesarass after ₹5,100-crore settlement deal

Court drops all criminal proceedings against Sterling Biotech promoters in a bank fraud case

- Krishna Yadav

The Supreme Court has agreed to drop all criminal proceedings against fugitive businessmen Nitin and Chetan Sandesara, promoters of Sterling Biotech Ltd and Sterling SEZ & Infrastructure Ltd, for a ₹5,100-crore settlement in a bank fraud case.

The billionaire brothers, who built a small tea-trading business into a diversified conglomerate, fled the country in 2017 after being accused of defrauding Indian banks of more than $1.7 billion. They were later included in the list of fugitive economic offenders in 2018, along with Kingfisher Airlines’ founder, Vijay Mallya, and diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.

A bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi approved the settlement in a 19 November order, seen by Mint, after solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union government and all investigating agencies, informed that the lenders had agreed to accept the amount as a complete settlement of all liabilities.

“In furtherance... the proposal made by learned solicitor general has been accepted and the petitioners have agreed to deposit the amount specified in the proposal subject to closure of all proceedings,” SC said.

The settlement involves quashing of all the cases by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI, Directorate of Enforcement, Serious Fraud Investigation Office, income tax department and proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, Black Money Act and Fugitive Economic Offenders Act.