The husband of Chanda Kochhar, former CEO of ICICI Bank, is detained by the Department of Education for laundering money when granting loans to the Videocon Group


File photo of Chanda Kochhar

File photo of Chanda Kochhar

Authorities said Deepak Kochhar was arrested because the agency wants to place him under interrogation in custody to obtain more details about some new evidence gathered in this case, which was filed under the criminal sections of the anti-money laundering law in January last year. .

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  • Last update: September 8, 2020 12:42 am IST
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The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) arrested Deepak Kochhar, husband of the former CEO of ICICI Bank and MD Chanda Kochhar, in connection with the investigation of the ICICI Bank-Videocon money laundering case, authorities said. They said Deepak Kochhar was arrested in Mumbai under the sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and the agency is expected to present him in local court on Tuesday to seek custody.

Authorities said Deepak Kochhar was arrested because the agency wants to place him under interrogation in custody to obtain more details about some new evidence gathered in this case, which was filed under the criminal sections of the anti-money laundering law in January last year. . The ED had made its case after studying a CBI-registered FIR against the couple, Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot and others.


It brought money laundering charges against the Kochhars and their business entities for “illegal sanctioning of loans worth Rs 1,875 million to the Videocon group of companies.” The ED had previously said that an amount of Rs 64 crore, out of the Rs 300 crore loan amount sanctioned by a committee headed by Chanda Kochhar to Videocon International Electronics Limited, was transferred to Nupower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRPL) by Videocon Industries Limited on September 8, 2009, just one day after the loan was disbursed by ICICI Bank. NRPL was previously known as NuPower Renewables Limited (NRL) and is a Deepak Kochhar company.

The agency had alleged that “net income of Rs 10.65 million was generated by NRL from these tainted funds.” “Therefore, the proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 74.65 million were transferred or, as it were, generated in NRPL,” the ED had stated.

The ED earlier this year also attached assets, including an apartment in Mumbai where the couple lived, land and plants and machinery from a Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra-based wind farm project, valued at Rs 78 crore “in possession. from “Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar and the companies they own and under their control. He had said that Chanda Kochhar and her family “acquired” the Mumbai apartment, owned by one of the Videocon Group companies, “by acquiring that company through their family trust at a nominal price and by creating book entries.” . The couple have been questioned by the central investigative agency several times in the past at its offices in Mumbai and Delhi.

The CBI, in its FIR, had named Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar, Dhoot and their companies: Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) and Videocon Industries Limited (VIL). It also named Supreme Energy, a company founded by Dhoot, and Nupower Renewables, a company controlled by Deepak Kochhar, in its FIR. The IWC imposed on all defendants sections of the Indian Penal Code related to criminal conspiracy, deception and the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI alleged that Dhoot had invested in Deepak Kochhar’s Nupower company through his company Supreme Energy, a quid pro quo for loans cleared by ICICI Bank after Chanda Kochhar took over as CEO of the bank on 1 May 2009. Ownership of Nupower and Supreme Energy changed hands through a complex network of shared transactions between Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot, the CBI had alleged.

During its preliminary investigation, the CBI found that six loans worth Rs 1,875 crore were sanctioned to the Videocon Group and companies associated with it between June 2009 and October 2011 in alleged violation of the policies established by ICICI Bank. “The outstanding assets in the accounts of these private group companies were adjusted in a Rs 1,730 crore term loan sanctioned by ICICI Bank under the refinancing of domestic debt under the consortium agreement on April 26. 2012, “said a CBI spokesperson.

The loans were declared assets in default in 2012, causing a loss of Rs 1,730 million to the bank, it had alleged.

(With PTI inputs)

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