SC to Sebi: Why hold up court-ordered closure of Sandesara fraud case? | India News
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Sebi has objected to the non-discontinuation of prosecution against former Sterling Biotech (SBL) directors Nitin and Chetan Sandesra, despite a directive to quash all pending criminal cases – related to bank fraud – after paying Rs 5,100 crore to the court.A bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and AS Chandurkar agreed to hear the Sandesra brothers’ plea and adjourned the hearing to March 23. Why was SEBI “coming in the way” of a court order to close all cases against them, askedIn a first-of-its-kind order dropping criminal proceedings in a multi-crore bank fraud case after the accused agreed to return the money, the SC had last year allowed the brothers and their associates to go free after the Center and the Enforcement Directorate agreed to their offer of Rs 5,100 crore as a one-time settlement to pacify the cases on behalf of the CBI, CBIO and SBI, the IT department.Then they deposited the money. The SC held that continuation of the criminal proceedings would not serve any useful purpose, considering that the public money was going back to the lending banks.On Monday the SC will also decide a plea by local lenders, led by SBI, seeking directions to disburse their respective claim amounts deposited by the Sandesra brothers in the court registry. Lenders keep a chart to distribute the dues of the lending bank and their respective shares.
