Deepak Kochhar, the husband of former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, was released on bail by the Bombay High Court on Thursday in the alleged ICICI Bank-Videocon money laundering case.
The multi-crore money laundering scam was being investigated by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED).
Kochhar, one of the main defendants in the ICICI-Videocon loan case, was arrested by the ED in September last year under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the alleged money laundering case.
Almost a week after his arrest, the 60-year-old had tested positive for Covid-19. He was transferred to AIIMS in Delhi for treatment.
Last month, the PMLA special court in Mumbai released Chanda Kochhar on bail in connection with the money laundering case involving a ₹Rs 1,875 million loan to Videocon Group.
Chanda Kochhar had to resign as CEO of ICICI in 2018 due to the investigation. She had denied all the charges against her and her husband.
The central investigative agency, which investigates financial crimes, had registered a case on the matter on January 30, 2019. An investigation against Deepak Kochhar, Chanda Kochhar, Venugopal Dhoot and their related companies began in the wake of the case registered by the Central Office Investigations (CBI) on January 22, 2019.
ICICI Bank-Videocon Money Laundering Scam Case
The case involves ₹Rs 3,250 crore in loans made by ICICI to the Videocon Group, controlled by industrialist Venugopal Dhoot, when Chanda Kochhar ran the bank.
The Videocon group had made around 28 proposals to ICICI Bank, of which around eight were sanctioned. Chanda Kochhar was part of the sanction and recommendation committee in four of these proposals made by the Videocon group.
ICICI Bank sanctioned loans for value ₹1,875 million rupees to the Videocon Group and its associated companies between 2009 and 2011. Most of these loans completely violated banking regulations and ICICI Bank policies.
Chanda Kochhar was then the CEO and CEO of ICICI Bank.
Within months of the approval of the loans, Supreme Energy of Dhoot had granted a loan of ₹Rs 64 million to NuPower Renewables, in which Deepak Kochhar has a 50% stake.
Investigators allege that ₹The Rs 64 million loan to Kochhar’s company was part of a matching arrangement.
The ED, during its investigation, found that sanctioned loans to the Videocon group were kept alive thanks to evergreen IMG or loan refinancing of approximate value. ₹1,730 crore, which became an NPA in June 2017.
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