ICICI Bank's ex-CEO Chanda Kochhar held guilty of receiving Rs 64 crore bribe in Videocon loan case

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3 days ago

An appellate tribunal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act has declared ICICI Bank's former Managing Director Chanda Kochhar as guilty of accepting a bribe of Rs 64 crore in exchange for sanctioning a Rs 300 crore loan to the Videocon Group in September 2009, NDTV Profit reported on Tuesday.
In its order on July 3, the tribunal also upheld the Enforcement Directorate's attachment of properties in the matter, according to CNBC-TV18.
Chanda Kochhar had resigned from her post in October 2018 after questions were raised about a Rs 3,250-crore loan that the ICICI Bank had given the Videocon Group in 2012.
In January 2020, the Enforcement Directorate attached assets worth Rs 78 crore belonging to her and her husband, Deepak Kochhar. The action was reversed by the PMLA Adjudicating Authority in November 2020.
On July 3, the tribunal said that the day after the disbursement of the Rs 300 crore loan, Rs 64 crore was transferred by Videocon promoter VN Dhoot to NuPower Renewables, a company managed by Deepak Kochhar through Supreme Energy Private, reported CNBC-TV18.
It added that the allegations made by the Enforcement Directorate stand 'because on paper ownership of M/s NRPL [NuPower Renewables] is shown to be of VN Dhoot but according to him also, the entire control of the company was of Deepak Kochhar'.
During the proceedings, the Enforcement Directorate told the tribunal that Chanda Kochhar had failed to disclose a conflict of interest, CNBC reported. Accepting the central agency's submission, the tribunal said that the attached properties were proceeds of crime.
The order overturned an earlier clean chit that Chanda Kochhar received from a PMLA Adjudicating Authority.
In September 2020, Deepak Kochhar was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate and later released on bail.
In December 2022, the Central Bureau of Investigation had arrested the Kochhars, alleging that ICICI Bank, under the leadership of Chanda Kochhar, sanctioned a Rs 3,250-crore loan to companies owned by the Videocon Group in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, the Reserve Bank of India rules and the credit policies of the private sector bank.
In January 2023, the Bombay High Court ordered their release, saying that their arrests were not in accordance with the law. In February 2024, the High Court said that their arrest amounted to an abuse of power.