Former ICICI MD & CEO Chanda Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar was arrested Monday and is currently in ED custody in connection with a money laundering probe.
The couple are being probed in a case of alleged irregularities & money laundering after ICICI bank loans given to Videocon group while Chanda Kochhar was CEO came under ED scanner.
The central probe agency has taken cognisance of a Bihar Police FIR registered against Rhea Chakraborty and others to slap criminal charges under the PMLA.
Financial Action Task Force is a global money laundering & terrorist financing watchdog that sets international standards to prevent illegal activities.
Karnataka Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar, under investigation in a money laundering case, has been in the Enforcement Directorate's custody since 3 Sept.
Maryam Nawaz was arrested in connection to a money laundering case while she was returning from Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore after meeting former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif.
The Supreme Court appointed a court receiver in whom the rights of all Amrapali properties will be vested, and directed NBCC to complete pending projects.
For all their colonial underpinnings, postcards from Hyderabad also inadvertently preserve a trace of local memory: a glimpse of a street, a face, a forgotten name.
Indian toymakers are now exploring new markets, but they want govt to negotiate a trade deal with US soon, introduce incentives and subsidies to make the industry more competitive.
The project is meant to be a ‘protective shield that will keep expanding’, the PM said. It is on the lines of the ‘Golden Dome’ announced by Trump, it is learnt.
Now that both IAF and PAF have made formal claims of having shot down the other’s aircraft in the 87-hour war in May, we can ask a larger question: do such numbers really matter?
I have a slightly different set of questions in all these investigations:
(a) Why chanda kocchar is being clubbed with Deepak Kochhar and his wrong doing. Is it because she happens to be his wife or because she is the CEO or because we think as a wife she should have must have known everything that he was upto. For example I and my spouse dont necessarifly share our financial position. In my view the media and court are trying to treat them as a single unit instead of two different individuals in two different capacities. Deepak Kocchar has to be tried for what he did as a businessman and Chanda Kochhar for her role as a CEO and Chairman. Deepak’s every action should not be attributed to chanda automatically. How do we know what relationship they had. Did he really share all his dealings with his wife? Was she aware of his dealings with Dhoot. Are we penalising Chanda becauase Deepak is her husband and assume that she ought to have known every details. What if they were were not sharing so much. Is the onus to share on Deepak to ICICI or with Chanda to ICICI. Was there any forgery or circumvention of process – these are the objective questions to ask. Indians and indian judiciary and also the media may have their perceptions about people relationships and jump to conclusions without being objective.
(b) RBI as a governing body is meant to prevent any money laundering through establishing appropriate processes and systems enforced. Audits are suposed to be designed to catch these gaps. What is their accountability in this. Why no one is examinig the gaps in the processes from this point of view. What is the use of a regulator if they get scot free everytime there is a scam. If all processes were followed then clearly there is a gap in governance. This is for RBI to fix and enforce. If any processes was flouted then one should explore further what was flouted and in whose direction and these evidences and witnesses have to be brought to the court.
(c) What about accountability of others involved in the process in ICICI Bank. Dont they have any role to play? 1875 Crore loan gets sanctioned directly by. a Chairman? If sufficient processses are not in place, there would be an additional set. of similar loans and in which case the Chairman will have to be questioned for all of them not just this one case. And we have to question all banks and their Chairmen too. As Chanda says it was a collective decision, its important to find if anyone else raised any objection. A public limited company has its liabilities resting with the company and not with the Chairman as an individual.
I worked with ICICI Bank for 3.5 years as Deputy Manager Grade 1 (Probationary Officer). The work load was such that we just did not have a social or private life of our own. Had to start at 8 every morning and the branch would be locked at around 9:30pm. At times even 10:30 or 11pm. Every single day was a battle for survival.
Severely understaffed (obviously to increase the profit margin of the bank), which led to very high customer servicing/operational workload. To top it off, an insane sales target list which comprised of every single conceivable banking/insurance product. In short, life was hell.
And all this happened at ICICI – considered to be a better run bank than other pvt sector banks.
Everyone knew that our lives are being sucked out so that the senior management and the shareholders can earn fat dividends and bonuses.
A sales officer hardly got a yearly bonus of Rs. 5000/- while utterly corrupt senior management officials raked in crores.
I have a slightly different set of questions in all these investigations:
(a) Why chanda kocchar is being clubbed with Deepak Kochhar and his wrong doing. Is it because she happens to be his wife or because she is the CEO or because we think as a wife she should have must have known everything that he was upto. For example I and my spouse dont necessarifly share our financial position. In my view the media and court are trying to treat them as a single unit instead of two different individuals in two different capacities. Deepak Kocchar has to be tried for what he did as a businessman and Chanda Kochhar for her role as a CEO and Chairman. Deepak’s every action should not be attributed to chanda automatically. How do we know what relationship they had. Did he really share all his dealings with his wife? Was she aware of his dealings with Dhoot. Are we penalising Chanda becauase Deepak is her husband and assume that she ought to have known every details. What if they were were not sharing so much. Is the onus to share on Deepak to ICICI or with Chanda to ICICI. Was there any forgery or circumvention of process – these are the objective questions to ask. Indians and indian judiciary and also the media may have their perceptions about people relationships and jump to conclusions without being objective.
(b) RBI as a governing body is meant to prevent any money laundering through establishing appropriate processes and systems enforced. Audits are suposed to be designed to catch these gaps. What is their accountability in this. Why no one is examinig the gaps in the processes from this point of view. What is the use of a regulator if they get scot free everytime there is a scam. If all processes were followed then clearly there is a gap in governance. This is for RBI to fix and enforce. If any processes was flouted then one should explore further what was flouted and in whose direction and these evidences and witnesses have to be brought to the court.
(c) What about accountability of others involved in the process in ICICI Bank. Dont they have any role to play? 1875 Crore loan gets sanctioned directly by. a Chairman? If sufficient processses are not in place, there would be an additional set. of similar loans and in which case the Chairman will have to be questioned for all of them not just this one case. And we have to question all banks and their Chairmen too. As Chanda says it was a collective decision, its important to find if anyone else raised any objection. A public limited company has its liabilities resting with the company and not with the Chairman as an individual.
I worked with ICICI Bank for 3.5 years as Deputy Manager Grade 1 (Probationary Officer). The work load was such that we just did not have a social or private life of our own. Had to start at 8 every morning and the branch would be locked at around 9:30pm. At times even 10:30 or 11pm. Every single day was a battle for survival.
Severely understaffed (obviously to increase the profit margin of the bank), which led to very high customer servicing/operational workload. To top it off, an insane sales target list which comprised of every single conceivable banking/insurance product. In short, life was hell.
And all this happened at ICICI – considered to be a better run bank than other pvt sector banks.
Everyone knew that our lives are being sucked out so that the senior management and the shareholders can earn fat dividends and bonuses.
A sales officer hardly got a yearly bonus of Rs. 5000/- while utterly corrupt senior management officials raked in crores.