CBI Files FIR against Chanda & Deepak Kochhar, Videocon Chief Venugopal Dhoot; Raids Videocon HQ, NuPower Office
Moneylife Digital Team 24 January 2019
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a case against Chanda Kochhar, the then managing director (MD) and chief executive (CEO) of ICICI Bank, her husband Deepak Kochhar, VN Dhoot, MD of Videocon group, Videocon International Electronics Ltd, Videocon Industries Ltd and NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd and Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd. It is alleged that accused sanctioned certain loans to private companies in a criminal conspiracy with other accused to cheat ICICI Bank.
 
The CBI also carried out searches at headquarters of Videocon Group in Mumbai and Aurangabad. The CBI has registered the FIR in connection with the Rs3,250 crore loan to the Videocon Group given in 2012. 
 
According to CNBC-TV18, the CBI may probe role of the senior officers on the sanctioning committee of ICICI Bank, including KV Kamath, Sandeep Bakshi, K Ramkumar, Sonjoy Chatterjee, NS Kannan, Sonjoy Chatterjee, NS Kannan and Homi Khusrokhan.
 
The action comes in the wake of a preliminary enquiry the agency registered on 31 March 2018 against Mr Kochhar, officials from Videocon group and others to determine whether any wrongdoing was involved in the sanctioning of the loan by the ICICI Bank as part of a consortium, a senior CBI official told reporters.
 
After registering the case, several teams from CBI carried out searches at four places in Mumbai. The search operation covered offices of NuPower Renewables and Supreme Energy, both controlled by Mr Kochhar as well as office of Videocon group in Mumbai and Aurangabad. 
 
CBI action last year came in the wake of the news reports raising questions about Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot allegedly providing crores of rupees to a firm promoted by Mr Kochhar and his two relatives six months after Videocon group got the Rs3,250 crore loan from ICICI Bank. It was alleged that Mr Dhoot transferred a considerable portion of the loan to a company he jointly owned with Mr Kochhar.
 
The media expose was based on a complaint filed by a whistleblower, who flagged Ms Kochhar's alleged impropriety and conflict of interest in a letter to the prime minister and the finance minister.
 
The Bank initially termed the charges against Ms Kochhar as "malicious and unfounded rumours" but after relentless public gaze, and regulatory pressure, the lender ordered a probe into the whole issue. 
 
The said amount was part of a loan of Rs40,000 crore, which Videocon received from a consortium of 20 banks led by State Bank of India (SBI). 
 
Later on 4 October 2018, Ms Kochhar quit ICICI Bank. In a regulatory filing at that time, the lender had said, "The board of directors of ICICI Bank accepted the request of Ms Kochhar to seek early retirement from the Bank at the earliest. The board accepted this request with immediate effect. The enquiry instituted by the board will remain unaffected by this and certain benefits will be subject to the outcome of the enquiry. Ms Kochhar will also relinquish office from the board of directors of the Bank's subsidiaries."
 
The decision of the 56-year-old brought to an end her nine-year reign as the top executive of the Bank. In 2009, Ms Kochhar was appointed as MD and CEO of the Bank and has been responsible for the Bank's diverse operations in India and overseas. The board of ICICI Bank has decided to appoint Sandeep Bakshi as managing director and chief executive for next five years.
Comments
Deepak Narain
7 years ago
Since Mr Sandeep Bakshi was on the loan Sanctioning Committee, he is deemed to be a party to the alleged wrong done by Ms Kochar. Therefore, it does not seem appropriate to appoint him as MD and CEO of ICICI Bank in place of Ms Kochar.
Dayananda Kamath
7 years ago
It is tiny tip of the iceberg. If similar exercise is done on other private banks skeletons will fall in hundreds. Another area to be investigated is the sanctions of big loans and take over of limits from their previous banks even by PSB chairman's appointed since 2004 as soon as their taking charge.
Even if RBI investigates the FEMA violations and their taking over forex business from PSB can force it to cancel their Authorised dealerships.
Dr.Dhananjaya Bhupathi
7 years ago
1. PRIVATE SECTOR BANK’S SCAMS: GOI under BJP LEAD NDA is pioneering to take remedial steps by digging into SCAMS IN PSB + PRIVATE SECRTOR BANKS.
2. How about ticking masters of RBI + STATUTORY AUDITS, who cleared these frauds ab initio? Former RBI Governor [Shri Urjit Patel], expressed RBI’s inability to prevent PSB scams, how about private sector banks? If RBI, simply, issues guidelines and the violators can’t be identified by RBI/Statutory Audits, who shall prevent such scams of high magnitude?
3. Any reaction from present incumbent in RBI?
4. When is PMO/UFM ensuring IBA’s registration under Indian laws with transparency + accountability & replacing its ex-officio members from tainted PSBs?
5. How about registration of PSB/Private Bank’ boards? Any registration under Indian laws with accountability + transparency?
6. Any political party worth its salt to include these issues in Election Manifesto?
7. When BJP lead NDA has been attempting to cleanse PSBs/Private Banks, its chances of re-election in 2019 polls shall increase by leaps & bounds.
8. Entire Indian youth pinned all hopes upon dynamic & charismatic Modiji to get re-elected as PM in fulfillment of his dreams for TEAMING MILLIONS OF INDIAN YOUTH & CONTINUE HIS TIRADE AGAINST CORRUPTION & seek return of Indian wealth , pilfered outside Indian borders.
9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7fOf8rUrdw
10. SATYAMAEVA JAYATHE!!!
Ramesh Poapt
7 years ago
ic....ic....i, no you don't see. its c is corruption, crime,creates contingency,coercion,
conspiracy behind magnetic media show.
VASANT KULKARNI
7 years ago
HUM BHI KUCH KAM NAHI!
Pankaj Malhotra
7 years ago
There are multiple points that are missing: 1) How did ICICI board give clean chit/ defended Chanda Kochhar despite the whistle blower & PE. Shouldn't they be dismissed too for not carrying out their duties? 2) Just like Kingfisher only 1 bank (IDBI in that case) has been sidelined. The total debt stands at ~40k crore & ICICI's exposure is only 3k crore out of it, what about other banks? 3) Why is there no probe against lead banker which is SBI in all cases, since fraud can't be perprated with just 1 bank of the consortium?
Ganesh Nyati
7 years ago
Good info
Meenal Mamdani
7 years ago
Has the ICICI Bank learnt nothing?
The same Sandeep Bakshi who was part of the group of directors that approved the loan to Videocon which is being investigated by CBI, has been appointed in place of Ms Kocchar.
At best he had no spine to stand firm against Ms Kocchar's decision to grant the loan; at worst he has poor judgement that he would ignore the red flags and OK this loan.
Is India so short of talent that a bank has no choice but to pick among its subpar directors?
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