Ex-Andhra Bank official sent to jail in loan fraud case

A former Andhra Bank director has been sent to judicial custody (JC) by a court here following his arrest and interrogation in connection with a money laundering probe in an alleged Rs 5,000-crore bank fraud case involving a Gujarat-based pharma firm.
Additional Sessions Judge Sidharth Sharma sent Anup Prakash Garg to custody for two weeks when he was produced before the court after his nine-day custodial interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Special Public Prosecutor Nitesh Rana, appearing for the ED, told the court that the accused was not required further by the probe agency and he be remanded in JC.

Garg was held by ED on January 12, the second arrest in the case after the agency took into custody Delhi-based businessman Gagan Dhawan in November last year.
Garg was arrested under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He was named as an accused in the case by the ED as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The ED had lodged the money laundering case after taking cognisance of an earlier FIR registered by the CBI.

The agency had said that during the probe, it came across "certain entries" in a diary seized by the Income Tax department in 2011, which showed various cash payments amounting to Rs 1.52 crore made to one "Mr Garg, Director, Andhra Bank" by the Sandesara brothers between 2008 and 2009.

The CBI had booked Sterling Biotech, its directors Chetan Jayantilal Sandesara, Dipti Chetan Sandesara, Rajbhushan Omprakash Dixit, Nitin Jayantilal Sandesara and Vilas Joshi, chartered accountant Hemant Hathi, Garg and some unidentified persons in connection with the case.
It had alleged that the company took loans of over Rs 5,000 crore from a consortium led by Andhra Bank, which turned into non-performing assets.
The FIR had also alleged that the total pending dues of the group companies were Rs 5,383 crore as on December 31, 2016.