The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 78 crore of ICICI Bank's former chief executive officer and managing director Chanda Kochhar and that of her husband Deepak Kochar's companies in connection with a money laundering case.
The properties include a Mumbai flat, some seized cash and assets valued at Rs.74.54 crore held in the name of Mr. Kochhar's company Nupower Renewables Private Limited [earlier known as NuPower Renewables Limited (NRL)] and its subsidiaries, including Windfarm Projects, located in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
The ED alleges that Ms. Kochhar and her family acquired the apartment in Mumbai, owned by one of the Videocon Group companies, by taking over that company through her family trust at a nominal price by creating book entries.
The ED probe is based on an FIR registered by the CBI to probe allegations of quid pro quo in sanctioning loans amounting to Rs.1,875 crore to the companies of Videocon Group chief Venugopal Dhoot.
It was alleged that Mr. Dhoot paid ₹64 crore to NRL. The amount, paid out of a loan of Rs.300 crore sanctioned to Videocon International Electronics Limited, was transferred by Videocon Industries Limited on September 8, 2009, just one day after the disbursement, the ED said.
The ED had recorded the statements of Ms. Kochhar, Mr. Dhoot and several others involved in the case. In March last, it conducted searches in Mumbai and Aurangabad.
According to the agencies, during Ms. Kochhar's tenure, the bank sanctioned six high-value loans to various Videocon Group companies between June 2009 and October 2011.
As on April 26, 2012, the outstanding against the loan accounts were adjusted as another term loan of Rs.1,730 crore that was sanctioned under the refinance of domestic debt. The accounts were declared non-performing assets in June 2017.
It is alleged that Mr. Dhoot had invested Rs.64 crore in NRL through Supreme Energy Private Limited (SEPL), which was also transferred to Pinnacle Energy Trust, another entity managed by Mr. Kochhar.
