The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) arrested former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar on Monday in connection with his money laundering investigation against the couple and the companies run by them, people familiar with him said. developing.
Authorities said Deepak Kochhar was arrested in Mumbai after he was called for questioning on Monday and will be presented in court on Tuesday morning. He was confronted with several documents linked to alleged money laundering at his companies after which he was placed under arrest, said an official who requested anonymity.
Deepak Kochhar’s arrest is the first in a multi-agency investigation launched against his wife in January last year over decisions made by her as a head of a private bank in making loans to the Videocon Group in lieu of allegedly paid bribes at their companies.
Chanda Kochhar had resigned from ICICI Bank on October 4, 2018, following allegations of wrongdoing against him.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is also investigating Chanda Kochhar and Deepak Kochhar for alleged corruption. In its FIR filed in January last year, CBI had alleged that ICICI Bank made six high-value loans worth Rs 1,875 million to the Videocon group of companies between 2009 and 2011.
It has been alleged that Videocon made a payment of Rs 64 million to a Deepak Kochhar company, NuPower Renewables, which was a quid pro quo from Dhoot for a Rs 300 million loan to Videocon.
While attaching properties worth Rs 78.15 crore belonging to Kochhars in January this year, ED had said that an amount of Rs 64 crore was transferred, from the Rs 300 crore loan sanctioned by a committee headed by Chanda Kochhar to Videocon International Electronics Limited . to M / s Nupower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRPL, formerly known as M / s NuPower Renewables Limited, a company of Deepak Kochhar, husband of Chanda Kochhar) by VIL on September 8, 2009, just one day after loan disbursement by part of the ICICI Bank ”.
Furthermore, the net income of Rs. NRL generated Rs 10.65 crore from these tainted funds, ”he added.
The agency called the apartment at CCI Chambers, Churchgate, where Chanda Kochhar lives, an “illegal gain”; has lived there since 1997 as it was owned by a Videocon entity: QTAPL (Quality Appliances Pvt Ltd; now called Quality Techno Advisors Pvt Ltd) from 2009 to 2016.
“Chanda Kochhar and Venugopal N Dhoot have been observed to know each other, while members of the Chanda Kochhar family have joint interests in certain companies with the people of the Videocon group, namely NRPL (NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd) and SEPL (Supreme Energy Pvt Limited). The nexus is evident from the changes in the participation patterns in the specified companies in and between those people under a design and plan, ”said an ED report held by HT.
The agency added that these suspicions of transfer of funds and changes in companies have occurred both at “corporate level” and “individual level”.
However, in an investigative report filed in a Delhi court, as first reported by HT in April 2019, ED had claimed that it was investigating a total of 24 loans totaling Rs 7,862 crore that the bank made to Videocon Group between 2009 and 2018..
Both agencies decided to seek a quid-pro-quos between Videocon Group chief Venugopal Dhoot and Kochhars after it emerged that the former was an investor in the company of Kochhar’s husband, Deepak Kochhar.
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