ED team visits Ahmed Patel's house, records statement on Sterling Biotech case

An Enforcement Directorate (ED) team visited veteran Congress leader Ahmed Patel’s Delhi residence on Saturday in connection with a money laundering case involving Sterling Biotech Ltd, a company promoted by the absconding Sandesara brothers.

The agency had gone to Patel’s house to record his statement in the case. He was earlier summoned for questioning, but citing COVID-19 guidelines, he had expressed his inability to visit the ED. The health ministry had issued an advisory for citizens above 65 years to stay at home to protect themselves against the novel coronavirus pandemic which has shown to have a more detrimental effect on aged persons.

Sterling Biotech allegedly took loans of over ₹5,000 crore from a consortium led by Andhra Bank, which had turned into non-performing assets. The total volume of the alleged loan defraud is pegged at ₹8,100 crore.

Related News: ₹787cr bank fraud case: CBI raids Ratul Puri’s residence, 6 other locations

The Sandesaras, Nitin and Chetan, are allegedly hiding in Nigeria. Indian agencies are trying to have them extradited.

On Friday (June 26), the Central Bureau of Investigation carried out searches at multiple premises linked to Ratul Puri – nephew of former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath – in connection with a fresh FIR registered against him on Thursday (June 25) for allegedly cheating a consortium of banks led by Punjab National Bank (PNB) of ₹787 crore, officials familiar with the matter said. The agency teams, wearing PPE (personal protection equipment), raided several buildings in Delhi and Noida.