Chanda Kochhar, a former managing director of ICICI Bank, and her husband Deepak Kochhar were arrested by the CBI in connection with a loan to the Videocon case. According to sources, Chanda Kochhar, a former ICICI Bank CEO and MD, and her husband Deepak Kochhar have been detained by the CBI in connection with alleged fraud and irregularities in loans totaling Rs 1,730 crore that the ICICI bank approved for the company in 2012.
A brief about Former ICICI Bank CEO-MD Chanda Kochhar and Husband Deepak Kochhar were Arrested by CBI for Videocon Loan Case:
In the FIR filed under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the CBI reportedly named Chanda Kochhar, her husband, Venugopal Dhoot of the Videocon Group, along with companies Nupower Renewables, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd, and Videocon Industries Limited, as defendants.
After the Videocon Group received a loan of Rs 3,250 crore from ICICI Bank in 2012, they claimed that Videocon promoter Venugopal Dhoot invested millions of dollars in Nupower.
The Kochhar’s, Dhoot, as well as businesses including Nupower Renewables and Videocon Industries, were the targets of a FIR filed by the CBI in 2019. The CBI listed Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL), Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd, and unidentified public employees as defendants in their FIR. In a criminal conspiracy with other accused people to defraud ICICI Bank, it was stated that “the accused (Chanda Kochhar) sanctioned certain loans to private entities.” Sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act were invoked in the filing of the complaint.
The sanctioned loan amount, according to the CBI, was a portion of the Rs 40,000 crore loan that Videocon Group obtained from a group of 20 banks led by SBI. 2,810 crore, or about 86%, of the loan balance of Rs 3,250 crore was still owing. In 2017, the Videocon account was classified as a non-performing asset (NPA).
The sanctioning committee of ICICI Bank, which included Chanda Kochhar, allegedly sanctioned a loan of Rs 300 crore to Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) on August 26, 2009, “in violation of the rules and policies.”
The CBI claimed that once Kochhar assumed control of ICICI Bank as its MD and CEO in May 2009, all credit limits for Videocon Group companies were authorized. The agency added that Kochhar was a member of the sanctioning committee that granted at least two loans to VIEL and VIL totaling Rs 300 crore and Rs 750 crore, respectively.
