Former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochar and her husband Deepak were arrested by the CBI on Friday in the ICICI-Videocon loan fraud case. Chanda Kochhar was accused of misusing her position in the ICICI bank in granting loans to Videocon group promoter Venugopal Dhoot in 2009 and 2011. Chanda Kochhar, her husband and Venugopal Dhoot of the Videocon group were booked by the CBI along with others in a case related to criminal conspiracy. It was alleged that Venugopal Dhoot invested crores in Nupower Renewables, after receiving the loan from the ICICI bank.
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It was alleged that the accused sanctioned certain loans to private companies in a criminal conspiracy with others to cheat ICICI Bank, the CBI had said in a statement after filing the case in 2019.
Chanda Kochhar was earlier arrested by Enforcement Directorate in connection with the same case in 2021.
Chanda Kochhar had to step down from her position in the ICICI bank in 2018 because of this multi-crore scam, as the investigation began. She had denied all the charges against her and her husband.
In 2019, the ED raided the residences and the offices of Chanda Kochhar, her husband and Dhoot. Last month, the ED interrogated Venugopal Dhoot in connection with the case.
It was alleged that Dhoot had invested in Nupower Renewables through his firm Supreme Energy in a quid pro quo for loans cleared by ICICI Bank after Chanda Kochhar took over as the CEO of the bank on May 1, 2009. The ownership of Nupower and Supreme Energy changed hands through many shared transactions between Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot, it was claimed.
The CBI found six loans worth ₹1,875 crore were sanctioned to the Videocon Group and companies associated with it between June 2009 and October 2011 in an alleged violation of laid-down policies of ICICI Bank, which are part of the probe. The CBI said the loans were declared non-performing assets in 2012, causing a loss of ₹1,730 crore to the bank.
(With agency inputs)
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