New Delhi: Former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group MD Venugopal Dhoot were booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday over charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating in a case linked to alleged irregularities in loans.
The case pertains to alleged transactions between Nupower Renewables Pvt Ltd, controlled by Deepak Kochhar and Venugopal Dhoot-controlled Videocon Group. It is alleged in the FIR filed by CBI that the accused sanctioned certain loans to private companies in a criminal conspiracy with other accused to cheat the ICICI Bank.
Nupower Renewables Ltd (NRL), Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL), Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) and Videocon Industries Ltd (VIL) have also been named in the FIR under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code along with various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
As of now, the CBI is conducting raids at Videocon’s offices in Mumbai and Aurangabad and Nupower Renewables and Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd’s office at Nariman point in Mumbai.
It was earlier reported that Dhoot provided crores of rupees to a firm he had set up with Deepak Kochhar and two relatives six months after the Videocon group got Rs 3,250 crore as loan from ICICI Bank in 2012. The amount was part of the Rs 40,000-crore loan that Videocon group secured from a consortium of 20 banks led by SBI.
Dhoot allegedly gave Rs 64 crore in 2010 through a fully owned entity to NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRPL), which he had set up with Deepak Kochhar and two of his relatives.
He also allegedly transferred proprietorship of the company to a trust owned by Deepak Kochhar for Rs 9 lakh, six months after he received the loan from ICICI Bank.
Almost 86 percent of the Rs 3,250 crore loan (Rs 2,810 crore) remains unpaid. The Videocon account was declared an NPA in 2017. Amid the raging controversy, Chanda Kochhar stepped down as the bank's managing director and chief executive in October last year.
Comments
0 comment