Chanda Kochhar, Her Husband Sent To Cbi Custody Till December 26
Mumbai: A special court in Mumbai on Saturday remanded ICICI Bank's former CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) till December 26 in connection with alleged cheating and irregularities in loans sanctioned by the bank to Videocon Group companies.
The Kochhars were arrested by the probe agency on Friday night after a brief questioning session. The CBI has alleged that they were evasive in their response and did not cooperate in the investigation.
The CBI had named the Kochhars and Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon Group, along with companies Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd and Videocon Industries Limited, as accused in the first information report (FIR) registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act in 2019.
The CBI has alleged that ICICI Bank had sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of Rs 3,250 crore to the companies of Videocon Group promoted by Dhoot in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, RBI guidelines, and credit policy of the bank.
In its application seeking custody remand of the couple, the agency said in June 2009 and October 2011, ICICI Bank had sanctioned a rupee term loan of Rs 1,875 crore to six companies of the Videocon Group for the purpose of enabling them to repay the unsecured loan availed by these companies from M/s Videocon Industries Limited (VIL).
All these loans were sanctioned after Chanda Kochhar became the MD and CEO of the bank, said the plea, adding that Chanda Kochhar was also on the loan committee when two of these loans were cleared i.e. RTL of Rs 300 crore to M/s Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) and RTL of Rs 750 crore to M/s VIL.
The agency further added that after the transaction of a loan granted to VIEL of Rs 300 crore, an amount of Rs 64 crore was received by Deepak Kochhar as a kickback.
