Chanda Kochhar, 2 others named in ED’s money laundering chargesheet
Hindustan Times, Neeraj Chauhan, November 04, 2020
Twenty one months after a multi-agency probe was launched into the alleged irregularities in disbursement of loans by former ICICI Bank managing director (MD) Chanda Kochhar, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet against the former top banker, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot for allegedly using a web of companies to launder the money received as bribe from Videocon Group, people familiar with the development said.
This is the first ever chargesheet against Chanda Kochhar, who had to step down in October 2018 from the ICICI Bank after allegations of multiple irregularities surfaced against her.
The ED filed its chargesheet under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a Mumbai special court on Tuesday, listing evidence and details of companies which were used to launder the ill-gotten money, people cited above said.
It took five huge trunks to carry documents in court along with the chargesheet.
The court has listed the matter for November 11, asking all accused to be present.
Deepak Kochhar was arrested by the ED on September 7. Currently, he is in judicial custody.
Apart from Kochhars, at least half a dozen companies – including Deepak Kochhar’s NuPower Renewables Ltd (NRL), Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) and Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL) have also been named in the chargesheet. It also provides details about the companies directly or indirectly controlled by Kochhars.
The ED probe has revealed that after ICICI Bank disbursed a loan of around Rs 300 crore - Rs 283.45 crore was the actual disbursed amount - to Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) on September 7, 2009, Rs 64 crore were transferred to Kochhar’s company NuPower Renewables Ltd (NRL) through Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL) the very next day. NRL was started by Videocon’s founder, chairman and MD Venugopal Dhoot and Kochhar. Though initially, Dhoot had started SEPL, later he had transferred its control to Kochhar, said an official who didn’t wish to be named.
“The accounting entries were made in the books of SEPL by creating provisioning of Rs 32 lakh (of the Rs 64 crore transferred by VIEL to NRL through SEPL) and its reversal follows a pattern of events in ICICI Bank pertaining to allegations against Chanda Kocchar,” said this officer.
According to the second ED officer, “Chanda Kochhar was part of the decision-making process and chairperson/member of the recommending/sanctioning committees for other loans sanctioned to Videocon Group by ICICI Bank.”
Kochhar’s lawyer Vijay Aggarwal said on Wednesday: “ED filing five trunks itself is an evidence that they do not have a case and that is why they are just creating a mountain of papers which is not worth even the ink and paper used.” Aggarwal had, last month, termed Deepak Kochhar’s arrest as illegal.
Venugopal Dhoot refused to comment on the chargesheet.
Investigation against Chanda Kochhar dates back to December 8, 2017, when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) first registered a preliminary enquiry against her to investigate the irregularities in loans disbursed by the private bank during her tenure.
The central anti-corruption agency filed a First Information Report (FIR) naming her accused on January 1, 2019 and alleged that there were irregularities in six high value loans worth Rs 1,875 crore disbursed to Videocon group between June 2009 and October 2011.
The CBI had also alleged that Kochhars got Rs 64 crore bribe from Dhoot, a day after the bank disbursed a loan of Rs 300 crore to Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) on August 26, 2009.
Based on the CBI FIR, the ED launched a money laundering probe in February 2019 and interrogated Chanda Kochhar on multiple occasions during which she claimed that she had nothing to do with her husband’s business.
While taking custody of Deepak Kochhar in September this year, the ED had informed a court that an “elaborate web of entities” was used by him for laundering the bribe amount of Rs 64 crore.
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