On Saturday, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Court remanded former ICICI Bank CEO-MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in CBI custody until December 26, Monday.
The couple was arrested on Friday by the CBI in connection with the alleged ICICI Bank-Videocon money laundering case. According to the First Investigation Report, they have arrested accused numbers four and five, according to the CBI lawyer in court.
“In 2009, accused 4 was MD and CEO of ICICI, and the fifth is her husband,” the lawyer said.
He stated that after Chanda Kochhar became the bank’s MD and CEO, six loans were approved for Videocon and its subsidiaries, and Chanda was a member of the committees that approved two of the loans.
The company has received a loan of Rs. 1,800 crore “The CBI lawyer went on to say that another loan of 300 crore was given to a company in which Deepak Kochhar was a partner.
“In this case, we are also filing an application to invoke IPC section 409. We had already served both of the accused with a notice under Section 41 of the CrPC, but they refused to cooperate, so we arrested them “He added that they had sent the couple a notice to appear before it on December 15, but they said they would appear four days later and did not appear on the 19th as well.
They arrived yesterday (December 23), and due to their lack of cooperation.
According to the CBI, the Kochhars and Dhoot, as well as companies Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd, and Videocon Industries Limited, were named as defendants in a FIR filed in 2019 under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The CBI claimed that ICICI Bank granted credit facilities totaling 3,250 crore to Videocon Group companies promoted by Dhoot in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, RBI guidelines, and the bank’s credit policy.
It was also claimed that as part of the deal, Dhoot invested 64 crore in Nupower Renewables via Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL).
This was the first significant capital received by NRL (Nupower Renewables) for the acquisition of the first power plant. “Chanda Kochhar received illegal gratification and undue benefit from VIL/VN Dhoot for sanctioning a 300 crore loan to VIEL through her husband,” according to the FIR.
