Videocon loan case: Dhoot gave Rs 64 crore in 2010 through a fully owned entity to NRPL, which he had set up with Deepak Kochhar and two of his relatives.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked Videocon Industries Ltd chairman Venugopal Dhoot in a corruption case for allegedly duping a consortium of banks, led by the State of Bank of India, to the tune of millions of US dollars. Along with Dhoot, who has been booked under charges of corruption, cheating and criminal conspiracy, the CBI has also booked unknown officials of the consortium of banks.
The case is related to an oil block in Mozambique where Videocon had interests, and it had taken a loan from Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in London. This loan was repaid by the SBI-led consortium against the Mozambique assets, but the consortium did not take charge of the assets and Videocon continued to avail credit facility from SCB on the block. The block was finally sold to ONGC Videsh Ltd and Oil India Ltd in 2014 for $2.5 billion.
The FIR is a result of the completion of a ‘preliminary enquiry’ (PE) that the CBI had opened earlier against unknown officials of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, ONGC Videsh, Oil India Ltd, Bharat Petro Resources Ltd and the consortium of banks. The agency had alleged that these entities had “colluded with the directors and promoters of M/s Videocon Mozambique Rovuma 1 Ltd (VMRL), a subsidiary of M/s Videocon Hydrocarbons Holding Ltd (VHHL) (a company registered in Cayman Istands) with intent to cause undue pecuniary gain to Videocon Industries Limited”.
According to the CBI, the PE indicated that in 2008, VHHL acquired 10 per cent participating interest in the oil and gas block in Rovuma Area 1 Block Mozambique from M/s Anadarko (a US-based petroleum company).
In April, 2012, the consortium of banks sanctioned a Standby Letter of Credit (SBLC) facility of $2.7 billion to VHHL for appraisal and development of overseas oil and gas assets in Mozambique, Brazil and Indonesia, and other funding requirements. The SBLC facility at $1.1 billion was refinanced, which includes an outstanding amount of $400 million of Standard Chartered Bank, London, the CBI has alleged. “The first charge on VIL’s oil and gas asset was a part of SCB security,” the CBI has said.