Former CEO of ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochhar has been held guilty by an appellate tribunal in Delhi under charges of receiving bribes of Rs 64 crore, in the Rs 300 crore Videocon loan case.
As per an order dated July 3, the tribunal observed that the money was paid as quid-pro-quo for sanctioning a loan of Rs 300 crore to the Videocon group, the Times of India reported. The bribe was taken through her husband, Deepak Kochhar, according to court documents.
“The history given by the appellants (Enforcement Directorate) has been narrated and supported by the evidence in the light of the reference of the statements under Section 50 of the PMLA Act which are admissible and can be relied upon. The allegation made by the appellants stands because on paper ownership of NRPL is shown to be of V N Dhoot (CMD of Videocon group) but according to him also, the entire control of the company was of Deepak Kochhar (Chanda Kochhar’s husband). Thus, the allegations were made for quid-pro-quo to Chanda Kochhar for sanction of loan to Videocon group of industries,” the order given by the tribunal read.
The Appellate Tribunal comes under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976 (SAFEMA), which again comes under the purview of the Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue. The act aims to prevent smuggling and foreign exchange manipulation by depriving those involved of their ill-gotten gains.
Back in November 2020, the adjudicating authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) had given relief to the accused (Chanda Kocchar), and released attached assets worth Rs 78 crore. The current order from the appellate tribunal slammed the earlier order that was passed when it was headed by acting chairperson, Tushar V. Shah, who determined that the assets attached by the ED did not qualify as proceeds of crime.
“The (earlier) adjudicating authority has ignored the material facts while drawing the conclusions which are coming out on the face of the record and, therefore, we cannot endorse the finding of the adjudicating authority going against the record and ignoring the relevant facts,” it noted regarding the earlier order.
The recent order states that Kochhar, while presiding over the loan sanctioning committee, had sanctioned a loan of Rs 750 crores as well as Rs 1,730 crores. Further, the order noted, “As per the rules, she should have distanced from the meeting having conflict of interest but not only she participated in the meeting but sanctioned the loan under urgent category. This is taken to be nothing but commission of crime which includes even the offence under Section 420 IPC.”
Further, the order noted while justifying the ED’s attachments: “We find substance in the allegation of the appellants for quid-pro-quo to Chanda Kochhar for sanction of loan of Rs 300 crore to Videocon group and thereupon, a sum of Rs 64 crore was transferred to NRPL, a company managed by Deepak Kochhar and, in fact, he was the managing director of the said company. The factual issues narrated above clarifies that the appellants have taken up the matter to justify the attachment of the property.”
Additionally, the tribunal said that the sanction of a loan of Rs 300 crore by ICICI Bank to the Videocon group, where Chanda Kochhar remained part of the committee, was against the bank’s rules and policy. “The issue remains about the transfer of Rs 64 crore by Videocon group through its entity SEPL to NRPL day after the disbursement of loan by ICICI Bank,” it said.
Further, the appellate tribunal also held Kochhar guilty of not disclosing her conflict of interest while sanctioning the loan.
In 2023, Chanda Kochhar, once considered a powerful banker in her role as CEO and MD of ICICI Bank, was arrested in the Videocon loan case, related to alleged irregularities of over Rs 3,000 crore loans given to Venugopal Dhoot’s Videocon Group. The loan was reportedly seen as a violation of the Banking Regulation Act, RBI guidelines and the credit policy of the bank. Kochhar resigned from the position of the Managing Director (MD) and CEO of ICICI Bank in 2018 after reports of alleged irregularities in loans given to Videocon surfaced.
