PTI photo
NEW DELHI / MUMBAI: The Directorate of Enforcement arrested Deepak Kochhar, husband of the former CEO of ICICI Bank on Monday Chanda kochhar, in an important event that is seen as a prelude to a possible drastic action also against the once famous head of ICICI Bank and Venugopal Dhoot, president of the Videocon group.
The ED’s action against the Kochhar comes ahead of the filing of a charge sheet in the case, with sources from the anti-money laundering agency claiming they decided to take Deepak Kochhar, a businessman whose company received funding from Dhoot in place of sanction of the ICICI Bank. loans to the Videocon group, in custody due to its refusal to cooperate.
Sources said the Kochhars and Dhoot have been dodging specific questions about the “quid pro quo” established by the money trail. “We have traced all the bribery money paid to the Kochhars by Dhoot through bank transactions in companies and trusts owned and controlled by them,” said a senior official involved in the investigation.
The source said that during their questioning, Chanda Kochhar and Dhoot were stubbornly evasive despite being confronted with details of the transaction that outlined the alleged quid pro quo. In January, the ED had attached assets of the Kochhars worth Rs 78 crore as “proceeds of crime”.
In its interim seizure order, the DE accused the banker and her husband of receiving Rs 64 crore from Videocon at NuPower Renewables Ltd, owned by Deepak Kochhar. The amount was transferred to the NuPower Renewables account in September 2009, just one day later Directed by Chanda Kochhar ICICI Bank sanctioned a loan of Rs 300 million to Videocon International Electronics Limited.
Chanda Kochhar is accused of “approving illegal loans” worth 1,875 million rupees to the Videocon group of companies. It was the CBI that filed an FIR against the former CEO of ICICI Bank and her husband on January 22, 2019.
On the basis of the CBI FIR, the ED launched an investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act behind 325 million rupees that Deepak Kochhar allegedly received in his Nupower Renewables from two Mauritius-based entities. Chanda Kochhar was instrumental in helping ICICI Bank refinance large loans to the Vid eocon group, which later became non-performing assets for the bank.
In turn, Kochhar and his family allegedly received an apartment in Mumbai, worth 75 million rupees, owned by a company of the Videocon group. This was done by acquiring the company through the Chanda Kochhar family trust at a nominal price by creating book entries, according to the ED in its interim seizure order. An entry in the book refers to fake transactions that are not supported by a real money exchange.
.
