The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday attached assets worth over Rs 9,000 crore in connection with the money laundering case it has been investigating against Gujarat-based pharmaceutical company Sterling Biotech, PTI reported. The firm is allegedly involved in a multi-crore bank fraud case.
The value of the assets seized, including those abroad, is nearly Rs 9,778 crore. Enforcement Directorate officials on Wednesday said that a provisional order of attachment had been issued by the central agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
“The agency has attached properties of the company in different countries,” IANS quoted an unidentified official as saying. “It includes an oil well in Nigeria, an aeroplane, a bungalow in London.”
In August 2017, the Enforcement Directorate had registered a criminal case in the alleged bank fraud on the basis of a case filed by Central Bureau of Investigation.
In October 2017, the Central Bureau of Investigation had filed a case against the company for defaulting on loans worth Rs 5,383 crore. The CBI had alleged that the company took the loans from a consortium of banks led by the Andhra Bank and then defaulted on them. The promoters of the firm, Sandesara brothers of Vadodara, allegedly the main conspirators of the scam, are currently absconding.
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