Wanted fugitive Hitesh Patel detained in Albania

Hitesh Patel is an accused in the Rs 5,000 crore money laundering case in which the prosecution complaint was filed by ED in Special Court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Patel is a brother-in-law of Nitin and Chetan Sandesaras, who was instrumental in getting dummy directors for shell companies used by Sandesaras for routing, rotating and laundering of proceeds of crime and he is expected to be extradited to India soon, the source said.

Hitesh Patel also handled and managed illicit cash transactions for Sandesaras. He also acted as director in many companies and siphoned loan funds for purchase of luxury cars and other luxuries. He never joined investigation and fled the country. Special court has issued non bailable warrants against him.

The New Delhi adjudicating authority in the case of Sterling Biotech group has confirmed Rs 4710 cr the attachment order of ED. The properties include movable and immovable properties of Sterling Biotech Ltd, PMT Machines Ltd, SterlIng Port Ltd, Sterling SEZ Infra Pvt Ltd, personal properties of Nitin Sandesara, Chetan Sandesara and Dipti Sandesara whose the properties were spread across Maharashtra, Gujrat, Karnataka, Delhi, the probe agency said in an earlier statement.

Earlier, the ED had moved the Special PMLA court in Delhi and filed complaint under section four of Fugitive Economic Offenders Act against four persons namely Nitin Sandesara, Chetan Sandesara, Ms Dupti Sandesara and Hitesh Patel. All the four accused are promoters of Sterling Group and has fled country to avoid criminal investigation. The investigation agency has sought to confiscate their properties In India and abroad.

Prior to action under fugitive act, ED made a prosecution complaint against the accused in a money laundering case involving bank fraud of Rs 5,000 crore.

The probing agency investigation revealed that Sandesaras and others hatched a criminal conspiracy for dishonestly cheating banks. They manipulated figures in the balance sheets of their flagship companies and induced banks to sanction higher loans, the ED officials said on condition of anonymity.

After obtaining loans, they diverted the loans funds to non-mandated purposes through a web of shell companies. Thus, the loan funds were diverted, layered and laundered by the promoters for their personal purposes. The loan fraud pertains to domestic as well as offshore branches of Indian Banks.

To fulfill their criminal motive of defrauding banks, the promoters devised a multi layered strategy of cheating whereby the not only cheated banks but also cheated revenue department as well as the shareholders.

Their strategy included incorporation of Shell companies, conducting circular transactions to artificially inflate turnover of flagship companies, claiming higher depreciation on non-existing machinery, artificial share trading with the use shell companies, layering and laundering of proceeds of crime within India and abroad through the web of shell companies, the officials added.