The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday arrested Deepak Kochhar, the husband of former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar, in a money laundering case. The case pertains to alleged credit facilities extended to the Videocon Group of companies.
“The accused has been arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He will be produced in court on Tuesday,” said a senior ED official.
The ED is conducting the probe based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in January 2019, alleging quid pro quo in sanctioning loans to the tune of ₹1,875 crore to the companies of Videocon Group head, Venugopal Dhoot.
In January this year, the agency had attached properties worth ₹78.15 crore of Ms. Kochhar, and those of her husband’s companies. These include a flat in Mumbai and some other assets held in the name of Mr. Kochhar’s firm Nupower Renewables Private Limited, earlier known as NuPower Renewables Limited (NRL), and its subsidiaries.
According to the ED, Ms. Kochhar and her family acquired the Mumbai flat at a nominal price by taking over a Videocon Group entity through a family trust.
The agencies alleged that Mr. Dhoot invested ₹64 crore in NRL through Supreme Energy Private Limited (SEPL), which was transferred to Pinnacle Energy Trust, an entity controlled by Mr. Kochhar.
NRL was set up in December 2008 and Mr. Kochhar, Mr. Dhoot and Saurabh Dhoot were its directors. The Dhoots later resigned from their positions in January 2009, after the Videocon Group chief allotted more than 19.9 lakh warrants worth ₹10 per unit to Mr. Kochhar on an initial payment of ₹1 per unit, alleged the FIR.
The NRL shares held by Mr. Dhoot and the Deepak Kochhar group were transferred to SEPL in June 2009, and it became 95% shareholder of NRL, it was alleged.
The amount of ₹64 crore, purportedly paid from a loan of ₹300 crore sanctioned to Videocon International Electronics Limited, was transferred by Videocon Industries Limited on September 8, 2009, a day after the disbursement.
The agencies alleged that during Ms. Kochhar's tenure, between June 2009 and October 2011, the bank had sanctioned six high-value loans to various Videocon Group companies. The outstanding amount against the loans, as on April 26, 2012, was adjusted as another term loan of ₹1,730 crore. The accounts were designated non-performing assets in June 2017.