According to a representative of ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochhar only disclosed information about Videocon Industries Ltd.’s investment in her husband’s business NuPower Renewables Ltd. in 2018 after the capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) enquired about it.
The ICICI Bank allegedly planned to lend money to Dhoot’s Videocon firm after the private sector lender announced the hiring of Chanda Kochhar as its CEO and MD. The CBI has made this allegation.
The representative’s declaration is included in the more than 10,000-page chargesheet that the agency has brought against Kochhar, her husband Deepak, former Videocon group chairman VN Dhoot, and others, according to the Economic Times.
The Kochhars and Venugopal Dhoot, Deepak Kochhar’s Nupower Renewables (NRL), Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd., and Videocon Industries Limited have all been identified as defendants by the CBI in the FIR.
“…the Bank learned about the same only on April 30, 2018, when Smt. Chanda Kochhar disclosed it to the Bank in response to SEBI’s inquiry on M/s VIL’s investment in M/s NRL. “Smt. Chanda Kochhar had not revealed to the Bank that her husband Shri Deepak Kochhar had business contacts with M/S VIL until the RTL of Rs. 300 crore was sanctioned to M/S VIEL on August 26, 2009, the representative who leads the audit team said in his declaration before the CBI.
Furthermore, the source claimed that the bank’s policies were distinct from a particular recommendation the MD made at the time. “…The Chairman/MD/Director shall disclose to the Board, at the time such proposal is being discussed, the nature of his interest in any proposal in which he is personally or indirectly interested. He is not allowed to attend meetings unless the other directors request it in order to get information from him, in which case the necessary director must be present but does not participate in voting on any related motions. Currently free on bail are the Kochhars and Dhoot, who were detained in December 2022.
Following charges of nepotism and conflicts of interest in 2018, Chanda Kochhar, who was appointed as the bank’s MD and CEO in December 2008, resigned from her position and took an indefinite leave of absence.
In a statement, the CBI said that Kochhar had broken the bank’s rules when loans were approved for the Videocon group of firms between 2009 and 2011 while she was the CEO and MD. It was stated that there had been a violation of trust and a conflict of interest.
Six independent loans approved to the Videocon group of firms were alleged to have violated banking regulations by the investigating agency.
According to the CBI, more than Rs 1,000 crore worth of non-performing assets (NPAs) resulted from the credit facilities.
For its side, ICICI Bank has already stated that it followed proper procedures when lending money to the Videocon group and that the CBI’s claims of unjust loss and rule-breaking are untrue. It claimed that due to financial collapse, the Videocon group was unable to repay the loans. The bank stated that the defaulted loan was a commercial loss rather than an unjustified loss.
