Videocon Group founder and CEO Venugopal Dhoot, who was arrested earlier in the day by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the ICICI Bank loan fraud case, has offered to turn approver, CNBC-TV18 reported on Monday citing sources.
Venugopal Dhoot, 71, was arrested from Mumbai nearly three days after former CEO and MD of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar were taken into custody by the CBI.
The probe agency had alleged that ICICI Bank, under Chanda Kochhar, sanctioned ‘high value’ loans to the tune of Rs 3,250 crore to Videocon, violating the bank’s lending policies, in exchange for an investment by the consumer electronics company’s owner in a business headed by Kochhar’s husband.
Sources say Videocon Group’s Venugopal Dhoot has offered to turn an approver in #ICICIBankLoan case, reports @Santia_Gora#ICICIVideocon #VenugopalDhoot pic.twitter.com/5LwhCpic2V— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) December 26, 2022
The CBI had named the Kochhars and Dhoot, along with companies Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd, and Videocon Industries Limited, as accused in the FIR registered under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act in 2019.
It was alleged that as a part of the quid pro quo, Dhoot made an investment of Rs 64 crore in Nupower Renewables through Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL) and transferred SEPL to Pinnacle Energy Trust managed by Deepak Kochhar through a circuitous route between 2010 and 2012.
ORIGINS OF THE CASE
According to the CBI, in 2009, a sanctioning committee of ICICI Bank headed by Chanda Kochhar sanctioned a term loan of Rs 300 crore to Videocon International Electronics Limited (VIEL) in contravention of rules and policies of the bank.
The very next day, Dhoot transferred Rs 64 crore to Nupower Renewables (NRL) from VIEL through his company Supreme Energy Private Limited (SEPL), it said.
In “furtherance of criminal conspiracy with other accused persons” Chanda Kochhar sanctioned various loans to Videocon Group, the CBI claimed.
As part of another quid pro quo, Chanda Kochhar lived in a flat without paying any consideration during the period she dealt with the loan proposal of Videocon Group, it added.
The flat was under litigation between Videocon and Deepak Kochhar. In 2016, the flat, valued at Rs 5.25 crore in 1996, was transferred to Quality Advisor, a family trust of Deepak Kochhar, for a meagre amount of Rs 11 lakh, the CBI alleged.
Criminal Breach of Trust?
The CBI on Saturday also applied to a Delhi court seeking permission to invoke the charge of ‘criminal breach of trust’ under the Indian Penal Code against the Kochhars.
During the remand hearing, the probe agency, represented by special public prosecutor A Limosin, argued that Chanda Kochhar also committed ‘criminal breach of trust’ under section 409 of the IPC by sanctioning credit facility of Rs 300 crore to Videocon International Electronics Limited.
Later, she converted Rs 64 crore allegedly received from Venugopal Dhoot for her own use by investing it in her husband’s company NuPower Renewable Limited, it alleged.
Being a public servant, she was entrusted with the bank’s funds and she should have discharged her responsibility in accordance with ICICI Bank’s guidelines, the CBI said.
The defence lawyer, on the other hand, had claimed that ICICI Bank had stated in the past that it had not suffered any wrongful loss, and pointed out that the “main borrower” had not been arrested yet.
Read all the Latest India News here
Comments
0 comment