New Delhi: Loans worth crores disbursed, round-tripped through a web of companies to make profits—this is what the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is probing against ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar, who were arrested Friday, sources in the agency told ThePrint.
The arrests were made in connection with a case pertaining to irregularities in loans worth Rs 3,250 crore, sanctioned to the Videocon Group between 2009 and 2012.
“The arrest was made as they were not cooperating in the investigation and they need to be confronted with fresh evidence gathered in the case,” a source in the agency said.
The primary allegation against the couple is that Kochhar abused her position in ICICI over two years to dispense Rs 1,875 crore in loans to Videocon, which then allegedly invested a part of this money in companies held by Deepak Kochhar. The loans in question were allegedly sanctioned by ICICI between June 2009 and October 2011. This money was then allegedly laundered by the Kochhars using a complex web of companies, sources said.
The case came to light in January 2019 when the CBI registered an FIR in connection with alleged irregularities in ICICI Bank and Videocon dealings.
According to the CBI, Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot allegedly invested crores in Deepak Kochhar’s NuPower months after the Videocon Group received Rs 1,875 crore as loans.
In its FIR, the CBI alleged that Chanda Kochhar “dishonestly” granted loans to the Videocon Group “in contravention of rules and policy… by abusing her official position”.
It also alleged that Chanda Kochhar accepted “illegal gratification through her husband” Deepak Kochhar, in whose company Videocon Group made investments after it was granted loans by the ICICI Bank.
Following the CBI’s case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) took up a parallel investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to see if kickbacks made through the loan deal were laundered to purchase assets.
Sources in the ED also said that they have records to establish that the loan of Rs 300 crore to Videocon International Electronics Limited (VIEL) was not used for the stated purpose, that is capital expenditure “requirements on machinery, accessories and spare parts for manufacture of display units by Videocon Industries Limited (VIL)“.
VIEL did transfer loan funds to VIL, in keeping with the agreement with the bank, but VIL then transferred Rs 64 crore to NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRL) through Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL), sources in the ED claimed. This, they said, was in “contravention of the terms of loan sanctioned”.
Several raids were carried out at multiple locations, including the offices of Videocon Group in Mumbai and Aurangabad, the offices of NRL, and SEPL after the case was registered.
In June 2020, the ED attached assets worth Rs 78.15 crore belonging to the Kochhars. These included residential flats, land, cash and plant and machinery located in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
The ED also claimed that Chanda Kochhar and her family acquired an apartment in Mumbai, which is owned by one of the Videocon Group companies.
The Kochhars and Dhoot have earlier denied all allegations.
In April 2018, he said he knew all 12 members of the panel that had cleared the loan amount, and asserted that personal ties between two persons do not always result in criminal acts. He also said Chanda Kochhar did “nothing illegal”. “She was only one of the 12 members of the committee which cleared the loan (of Rs 3,250 crore) to Videocon Group,” he said.
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The transactions
According to documents accessed by ThePrint, the first of the transactions under investigation took place on 7 September, 2009. That’s the day ICICI Bank disbursed a loan of Rs 300 crore (the actual disbursed amount was Rs 283.45 crore) to VIEL.
This loan was meant for capital expenses by VIL, another company owned by Dhoot, the ED said.
On the very next day, Rs 64 crore was transferred by VIL to a company called NRL — formed the same year — through another firm named SEPL.
This money, sources said, was drawn from the loan granted to VIL.
According to investigators, NRL is owned, controlled, and managed by Deepak Kochhar and he has been its director since its incorporation in 2008. He is also the authorised signatory for the bank accounts of NRL and its subsidiaries, it said.
SEPL, meanwhile, was acquired by Pinnacle Energy — a family trust of Deepak Kochhar, who is also a managing trustee — on 20 September, 2012, a source said.
The ED, while making a submission in the court, has also claimed in the documents accessed by ThePrint, that linking NRL and SEPL to Kochhar establishes the fact that the Rs 64 crore investment was quid pro quo for the loans sanctioned to VIL. According to the ED, an elaborate web of entities was created to hold this amount.
The loan funds, CBI officers claimed, travelled from VIL to NRL through SEPL. But two intermediary companies were brought in for the purpose of layering.
‘Proceeds of crime’
Describing the sum of Rs 64 crore as “proceeds of crime”, the ED, in a submission to court, claims it was utilised by NRL to purchase properties, including “wind term projects” or wind power projects of 33.15 MW capacity.
Another property under the ED’s scanner in connection with the case is a residential one at 45, CCI Chambers, Churchgate, Mumbai. According to the ED, the property was purchased for Rs 5.25 crore on 19 February, 1996 by Credential Finance Limited (CFL), a company in which Videocon Group had a “substantial interest along with Deepak Kochhar, Chanda Kochhar and their family”.
CFL allegedly defaulted in repaying a Rs 4.7 crore loan availed from SBI Home Finance, for which the apartment was placed as security.
The Videocon Group, the ED claims, paid off the loan to SBI Home Finance and, in 2009, the ownership of the apartment was transferred to QAPL, a Videocon Group Company.
Then, in 2016, the total shareholding of QAPL was acquired by a family trust of Deepak Kochhar where he serves as managing trustee, the ED claims. Deepak Kochhar and his family have been residing in this flat since 1996, the ED states.
“This clearly shows the association between Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon with Deepak and Chanda Kochhar,” an ED officer told ThePrint.
Speaking about the recent arrest, a CBI source said, “The duo needs to be confronted with the evidence that we have gathered. They will be questioned in the coming days on the source of funds, money spent on properties.”
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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