Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday registered a criminal offence against Videocon Group managing director (MD) Venugopal Dhoot, former ICICI MD and chief executive officer (CEO) Chanda Kochchar and her husband Deepak Kochchar in connection with alleged irregularities in loans sanctioned by the bank to the Videocon Group during Chanda Kochchar’s tenure.
The CBI has registered the FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The agency had initiated a preliminary inquiry in the case in December 2017, which traces the sanctioning of the loans and the alleged illegal gratification paid by Videocon Group to companies owned by Deepak Kochchar.
On Thursday, the CBI also conducted searches at three locations in Nari-man Point in Mumbai and one in Aurangabad and seized documents pertaining to the investigation.
According to the CBI officers, six high value loans were sanctioned to various companies under the Videocon Group from June 2009 to October 2011.
“In August 2009, a term loan of '300 crore was sanctioned to Videocon International Electronic Limited in contravention of the rules and policy by the sanctioning committee of which Chanda Kochchar was a member. Inquiries revealed that the loan was disbursed on September 7, 2009 and on the very next day, Dhoot transferred '64 crore to M/s New Power Renewables (NRL) Limited, managed by Deepak Kochchar. This was the first major capital received by NRL to acquire its first power plant,” a CBI officer said.
The officer added that five other loans, collectively amounting to '1,575 crores were sanctioned to various companies of the Videocon Group, including loans granted for refinancing the existing loans of the company, in violation of the credit policy of the bank.
“On April 26, 2012, the outstanding loans of the companies were adjusted into a term loan of '1730 crore under refinance of domestic debt. The account of Videocon India Limited and its companies was declared as a non-performing asset on June 30, 2017. All the loans were sanctioned to Videocon after Chanda Kochchar took over as MD and CEO on May 1, 2009,” the officer said.
Based on the findings of the preliminary inquiry, the CBI has booked Deepak Kochchar, Chanda Kochchar, Dhoot and unnamed officials of Videocon Industries Ltd and its companies.
