Members of famous Indian family the
Sandesaras, indicted or on the run for tax
evasion, loan fraud, and other alleged offences
enjoy state protection from Albania, Kosovo, and
Nigeria, says an investigative report by the
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting
Project (OCCRP).
The Sandesaras—Chetankumar, his wife
Diptiben, and elder brother Nitin had been on
the run since 2017, when authorities in India
accused them of defrauding local banks out of
loans worth over $700 million at the time.
Despite the allegations and their fugitive status,
the family had been allowed to invest in
projects in Albania, Kosovo, and Nigeria. In fact,
they hold Albanian and Nigerian passports.
The OCCRP investigation says high-ranking
Albanian and Nigerian officials helped the family
evade repeated attempts to extradite them to
India. Police reports, court documents,
interviews, and flight data obtained by reporters
show how these officials allowed the family to
move freely and continue to run their
businesses while at large.
Nigeria's Attorney-General rebuffed an Indian
request for their extradition, arguing that the
case appeared to be politically motivated.
Documents obtained by OCCRP also show that
Indian state companies continued to buy
hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of oil
sourced from the Sandesaras’ Nigerian firm
after the family went on the run - implying that
the family yet maintains ties with some state
authorities in India.
The family owns Nigeria-based Sterling Oil
Exploration and Energy Production Company
(SEEPCO).
The brothers—Nitin Sandesara and Chetankumar
Sandesara—control some 340 companies,
including 92 outside India in energy,
construction, and healthcare. Their
conglomerate has claimed to be worth nearly $7
billion.
As their wealth grew, the family became a
staple of the Indian tabloids, which gushed
about their extravagant properties, lavish parties,
and appearances with Bollywood stars. In one
anecdote, Chetankumar reportedly complained
to journalists when a media portal
underestimated the cost of the family’s new jet.
But the Sandesaras’ fortunes shifted in the fall
of 2017 when the Central Bureau of
Investigation in New Delhi accused them and
their company of cheating and criminal
conspiracy. A subsequent investigation by the
Indian government’s Enforcement Directorate
claimed that their Sterling Biotech group had
criminally acquired and laundered over $700
million for the benefit of its “promoters,”
including the Sandesara brothers and Diptiben.
Investigators claimed that the family’s
companies had obtained the money by
fraudulently obtaining loans from various Indian
banks. In 2019, the amount those banks
declared as fraudulent had risen to over $1.1
billion (about N600 billion).
Much of this money was allegedly siphoned off
using shell companies which listed employees
and associates of Sterling Biotech as their
shareholders and directors. Prosecutors say the
money was transferred under the guise of asset
purchases and property transactions. These
transactions were also allegedly used to inflate
the balance sheets of the shell companies,
which then borrowed even more money from the
banks and diverted those funds as well.
The Sandesaras also appear to have played
politics in Kosovo. In February 2019, Kosovo’s
then Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj posted
on Facebook that he had met with Chetankumar
Sandesara, describing him as a “representative
of ‘Sandesara Group’ from Nigeria,” to discuss
investments in tourism and agriculture.
They have found shelter in Nigeria, along with
lucrative business opportunities.
In 2011, SEEPCO partnered with Nigerian-owned
Allenne Energy Ltd. on a concession licence to
exploit an oil field worth over $3 billion.
Nigeria’s then-president Goodluck Jonathan
named Sterling as one of the country’s top 100
businesses in 2014.
The accusations against them back home do
not seem to have troubled Nigerian officials. A
month after they were charged in India, Khadija
Bukar Abba Ibrahim, who was Nigeria’s Minister
of State for Foreign Affairs between 2016 and
2018, wrote to the Albanian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs asking for Nitin Sandesara to be
appointed honorary consul to Nigeria. She cited
Nitin’s “effort to expand the friendship” between
Nigeria and Albania and “the need to provide
[an] avenue for boosting trade and investment
relations between the two countries.”
Albanian authorities immediately began the
process, and Nitin received the position in
January 2019, a year after he and his brother
received their Albanian citizenship.
In June 2018, Nigeria’s judiciary also handed
down a ruling that reinforced the narrative that
the Sandesaras had faced persecution by Indian
authorities. The decision was made as part of a
suit filed by Allenne Energy to prevent
information about the Nigerian oil concession
from being shared with any law enforcement
agencies or banks in India or Nigeria.
Allenne’s suit alleged that the Indian banks
were acting with “ulterior motives” and asked
the court for a declaration that the “change of
government in India as well as the government
policies and political and religious victimization
and persecution of [SEEPCO] constitute force
majeure capable of raising concerns by [Allenne
Energy] in protecting its interest.”
A judge in Nigeria’s Federal High Court agreed,
writing that the Sandesara brothers and their
families were being “targeted by Indian
government agencies” for their political and
religious beliefs.
“It would be inappropriate for this court to allow
any Nigerian company to be economically
imperiled, because of political vendetta of
Indian Government and banks,” the judge’s
statement read. “Nigeria is keen on keeping and
protecting the present legitimate investors and
to even encourage more to come into the
economy.”
Later, in 2019, Nigeria’s justice ministry made a
similar argument when it rejected a request
from India to extradite members of the
Sandesara family, citing its power to refuse
requests if it believes that the offence is
“political in nature.”
Prashant Bhushan, the prominent public interest
lawyer in India, called the High Court’s decision
“laughable,” and pointed out that the
Sandesaras are close to a former top Central
Bureau of Investigation officer, R.K. Asthana,
whose daughter’s wedding was held in their
farmhouse.
“Someone who is so close to Asthana cannot
fear persecution by the Indian government,”
said Bhushan, who in late 2017 made public a
diary belonging to the Sandesaras that allegedly
detailed kickbacks to top Indian officials. “A
sham show is being put on to show that an
attempt to extradite them is being made.”
Whether or to what extent the Sandesaras have
been protected in India is a matter of debate.
Indian authorities have reportedly sought to
freeze over $2 billion worth of Sandesara assets
as part of their investigation.
But oil shipping data provided to OCCRP also
shows that state-run Indian companies
continued buying Nigerian crude sourced from
SEEPCO even after the money laundering
charges against the Sandesaras, raising
questions about how hard the Indian state and
the defrauded banks are working to reclaim the
money they allege the family stole.
The Nigerian court decision in the case filed by
Allenne, handed down on June 8, 2018,
ultimately helped the Sandesaras avoid
extradition from Albania as well. A copy of both
this case and the decision by Nigeria not to
extradite the four family members were given to
the Tirana District Court by a special envoy of
the Nigerian government.
Rejecting to order extradition, an Albanian judge
argued that Nigeria’s High Court had shown the
Sandesara family were being targeted because
of their “political and religious beliefs.”

saharareporters.com/2021/06/09/how-nigeria’s-attorney-general-malami-shielded-indian-muslim-family-accused-over-n600

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