ICICI Bank-Videocon case: Deepak Kochhar sent to ED custody until September 19

MUMBAI: Deepak Kochhar, husband of former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, has been remanded to Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody until September 19. Arrested on Monday, he was produced before the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act(PMLA) court for his remand hearing at noon.
The ED in its plea had sought a custody of 14 days. Opposing this, Deepak Kochhar’s lawyer, Vijay Aggarwal, said, “The arrest is illegal as my client has been cooperating in the investigations. The offences is punishable for imprisonment up to 7 years only. So, he cannot be arrested like this when he joined investigation on summons.”
The ED is investigating a money laundering case against Chanda and Deepak Kochar. In January, the ED had provisionally attached Kochhars’ assets worth Rs 78 crore in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
The money laundering case is based on a CBI’s FIR against the couple and others for defrauding ICICI Bank by granting loan illegally in lieu of kickback.
It is alleged that ICICI Bank then headed by Chanda Kochhar had illegally sanctioned Rs 1,875 crore to Videocon Group companies which afterwards became non-performing assets (NPA) in 2017, causing loss to the bank .
During the investigation, ED found an instance, where a committee headed by Chanda Kochhar in ICICI Bank has sanctioned Rs 300 crore loan to Videocon International Electronics Ltd. Out of that money, Videocon transferred Rs 64 crore to Nupower Renewables which was owned by Deepak Kochhar in 2009. The money was transferred a day after disbursement of the loan.
ED found that Chanda Kochhar through her family trust has also acquired an apartment in Mumbai that was earlier owned by Videocon group at nominal price.