ICICI bank-Videocon case: ED questions Kochhars and Dhoot

The questioning of Deepak Kochhar in connection with the investments received by NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd from various domestic and foreign firms continued till late night, while Dhoot left around 11.30 pm.

ICICI Videocon case, Chanda Kochar, Deepak Kochhar, Venugopal Dhoot, NuPower, ICICI Bank, CBI, ED raids, Business News, Banking, Indian Express

Ex-ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar at ED office in Mumbai Saturday for questioning. (Photo: Reuters)

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday questioned Chanda Kochhar, former MD and chief executive of ICICI Bank, and her husband Deepak Kochhar for a second day in connection with its money laundering probe into the alleged irregularities in sanctioning of loans by ICICI Bank when Chanda Kochhar was at the helm. Separately, the agency also questioned Videocon Group promoter, Venugopal Dhoot.

Kochhar and her husband arrived at the ED office around noon on Saturday. Later, Chanda Kochhar left the ED office as she was asked to operate her bank lockers by the agency, as part of their probe, said sources familiar with the development.

The questioning of Deepak Kochhar in connection with the investments received by NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd from various domestic and foreign firms continued till late night, while Dhoot left around 11.30 PM. The agency also recorded the statements of a few relatives of Chanda and Deepak Kochhar.

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On March 1, the ED searched the South Mumbai residence of Chanda Kochhar and the offices of NuPower Renewables . It also searched the Matix Group headed by Nishant Kanodia, Videocon Group promoted in Mumbai and the residence of Dhoot under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The agency’s search at Kochhar’s residence went on till 4 am, said sources. Apart from this, the ED has searched the premise of Deepak Kochhar’s brother Rajiv Kochhar in Mumbai. Rajiv Kochhar ‘s financial services firm Avista Advisory, got the mandate to restructure foreign currency-denominated debt deals worth over $1.7 billion of seven companies over the last six years. All these companies were borrowers of ICICI Bank at the same time.

Deepak Kochhar is coming out from the ED Office, Saturday. (Express Photo: Pradip Das)

ICICI Bank and Chanda Kochhar have been under regulatory scrutiny after The Indian Express first reported on March 29, 2018 that Dhoot provided crores of rupees to a firm he had set up with Deepak Kochhar and two relatives six months after the Videocon Group got Rs 3,250 crore as loan from ICICI Bank in 2012. On December 8, 2017, the CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) into the sanctioning of the loan. The amount was part of the Rs 40,000-crore loan that Videocon Group secured from a consortium of 20 banks led by SBI. Almost 86 per cent of the Rs 3,250 crore loan (Rs 2,810 crore) remained unpaid. Videocon account was declared NPA in 2017.

Apart from this, Deepak Kochhar’s NuPower got investments of Rs 325 crore from Mauritius-based Firstland Holdings, a company owned by Kanodia, son-in-law of Essar Group co-founder Ravi Ruia. The investments from Ruia’s son-in-law’s firm into NuPower started in December 2010. Incidentally, the same month ICICI Bank was lead banker in a consortium of Indian banks that extended a $530-million loan to Essar Steel Minnesota LLC on December 29, 2010. This loan was later classified as NPA. In 2013, Firstland sold its stake in NuPower to DH Renewables, another Mauritius-based company.

Videocon Group promoter, Venugopal Dhoot outside ED office. (Express Photo: Ganesh Shirsekar)

On January 22, the CBI registered an FIR against Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar, Dhoot and a few firms including Nupower Renewables and Videocon Industries for allegedly cheating ICICI Bank of Rs 1730 crore till March 2012. It also searched the offices of NuPower and Videocon in Mumbai.

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The CBI has alleged “the accused (Chanda Kochhar) sanctioned certain loans to private companies in a criminal conspiracy with other accused to cheat ICICI Bank”. It said Chanda Kochhar “dishonestly” abused her official position to disburse this loan of Rs 300 crore to Videocon International Electronics on September 7, 2008 as the very next day her husband’s firm NuPower Renewables received Rs 64 crore from Videocon Industries to acquire its first power plant.