The Enforcement Directorate on Friday searched the premises of Chanda Kochhar, former MD and CEO of ICICI Bank, and Venugopal Dhoot, Videocon Group chief, in connection with the alleged sanction of credit facilities in violation of rules and in return for a quid pro quo .
The searches were carried out at Mumbai and Aurangabad in Maharashtra. “A team of officials from Delhi led the operation in coordination with their local counterparts,” said an official.
The Directorate had earlier registered a money laundering case against Ms. Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar, Mr. Dhoot and others, on the basis of an FIR lodged by the CBICentral Bureau of Investigation, to probe the money trail.
According to the CBI, the bank had sanctioned six high-value loans to various Videocon Group firms between June 2009 and October 2011. As on April 26, 2012, the outstanding against these accounts were adjusted as another term loan of ₹1,730 crore sanctioned under refinance of domestic debt. The accounts were declared non-performing assets in June 2017.
After registering the case, the CBI had conducted searches in the offices of Videocon Group companies, Mr. Kochhar’s company Nupower Renewables Limited (NRL) and Supreme Energy Private Limited (SEPL). The agency alleged that as quid pro quo , Mr. Dhoot had invested ₹64 crore in NRL through SEPL and also transferred SEPL to Pinnacle Energy Trust, another firm managed by Mr. Kochhar, through a circuitous route between 2010 and 2012.
