CBI Files Charge Sheet Against Kochhars, Dhoot For ICICI Bank Fraud

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a charge sheet against ICICI bank's former MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot in a Rs 3,250 crore loan fraud case, officials said on Saturday, as per PTI report.

Under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, among others, are the charges filed in the sheet. Further the agency has named nine entities, including companies and individuals, according to the officials.

CBI has alleged that ICICI Bank sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of Rs 3,250 crore to the companies of the Videocon Group promoted by Dhoot in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, RBI guidelines, and the credit policy of the bank.

As per the report, CBI also alleged that as a part of a quid pro quo, Dhoot had made an investment of Rs 64 crore in Nupower Renewables through Supreme Energy Private Limited (SEPL) and transferred SEPL to Pinnacle Energy Trust managed by Deepak Kochhar through a circuitous route between 2010 and 2012.

A letter was sent to the bank seeking the sanction but its response is awaited, they said. The CBI decided to file its final report before a special court in Mumbai without the mandatory requirement of sanction to prosecute Chanda Kochhar from ICICI Bank, the officials said.

One of the official has said that the special CBI court is yet to take cognisance of the charge sheet. If the sanction request to prosecute is denied, the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act will not apply, they said. The agency arrested the Kochhars and Dhoot in December last year.

CBI's remand plea was opposed after the representing senior advocate Amit Desai appearing for the Kochhars, brought to the court's notice a letter ICICI Bank wrote to the CBI in July 2021 stating that it incurred no wrongful loss in any of the transactions under question.

On basis of that the Bombay High Court granted a bail to the couple on January 9, underlining that the CBI's move to arrest them was "casual, mechanical and perfunctory and clearly without application of mind".

The HC noted that in the present case, the grounds of arrest are merely stated as non-cooperation and not giving full and correct disclosure. The court observed,"the reason given in the arrest memos to arrest the petitioners, having regard to the facts as stated aforesaid, appears to us, to be casual, mechanical and perfunctory, clearly without application of mind,"

The bench held the arrest of the Kochhars was in violation of Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which mandates sending notice for appearance before the police officer concerned.

The CBI's FIR names the Kochhars and Dhoot along with Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Limited and Videocon Industries Limited as accused.