Parliamentary panel to discuss Chanda Kochhar, Nirav Modi today

The parliamentary standing committee on finance will discuss allegations of quid pro quo against ICICI chief Chanda Kochhar over a loan to Videocon Group, and recent bank frauds when it starts a debate on bad loans in Indian banks on Tuesday. This is the first time the recent cases related to the banking sector will come under the review of a parliamentary panel.

Close on the heels of the fraud at Punjab National Bank, where jewellers Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi are alleged to have conspired with venal bank officers to defraud the bank of close to ₹12,000 crore, allegations have cropped up about ICICI bank’s loans to Videocon, and the possibility that these may be linked to Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot’s transfer of his private investment in a company to its co-promoter, Deepak Kochhar, Chanda Kochhar’s husband.

“We will look closely at the recent cases of bank frauds — the ICICI, PNB and UCO Bank cases — to understand the issue and recommend remedies. Finance ministry officials have been requested to depose before the panel on Tuesday. Other stakeholders will also be called but on some other day,” said a senior member of the standing committee. In the UCO bank case, the Central Bureau of Investigation has booked the bank’s former CMD Arun Kaul and a few other officials for allegedly duping the bank to the tune of ₹620 crores.