[ICICI Bank case] Mumbai court denies bail to Deepak Kochhar in money laundering case

Special Court Judge PP Rajvaidya of a PMLA court in Mumbai has rejected the bail application moved by Deepak Kochhar on merits.

. Deepak Kochhar, the husband of former CEO of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar, was remanded to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case last September. The ED's custody has been extended since, from time to time.

. Kochhar was charged with offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The ED registered a complaint against him based on this FIR for allegedly causing loss to the ICICI Bank by sanctioning loans to the Videocon Group of Companies in contravention to the policies of the ICICI Bank.

. He had sought to be released from detention on the following, among other, grounds.

. It is contended that the provisional attachment of the alleged proceeds of crime was not confirmed by the PMLA authority. Kochhar submits that he is exempted from appearing in the PMLA proceedings. He adds that there was no reason for being kept in custody as the ED’s case no longer seemed sustainable.

“In case applicant is kept in custody and later on acquitted, who will restore the time spent by him in jail?” plea reads.

. He further submits that the ED is now aware of all the alleged proceeds of crime. Hence, there were slim chances for Kochhar to create third party rights over the properties. Therefore, he has submitted that “he is no more required in custody as the fact of attachment of the properties will secure ends of justice."

. The provisions of PMLA he is charged with under are punishable with imprisonment upto 7 years, he adds. Therefore he is entitled to bail, he submits.

. Kocchar also argues that the trial is not going to commence anytime in the near future. Keeping him languishing in custody for several months in a pre-trial stage is not warranted, he adds.

. He reasons that since there were a number of witnesses and documents and since the investigation in various other aspects were still pending, he need not be kept detained.

. He also highlights that despite 11 people being charged in their complaint, the ED had singled out Kochhar for arrest.

. He goes on to contend that he has been co-operating in the investigations being carried out by the ED and also appeared before the ED on several occasions to submit voluminous proceedings.

. Further, Kochhar submits that he satisfies the triple test for the grant of bail, which is -

He is not a flight risk, as Kochhar has deep roots in the society

There is no scope of tampering with evidence, as the only evidence being documentary were majorly documents of public record. In any case, all documents were in the custody of the ED already.

There is no scope of influencing witnesses as the petitioners has himself co-operated with the investigation and is also aware that tampering is a ground for the cancellation of bail.

. ED opposed the bail application by informing the court that the accused was a beneficiary of his company Nupower Renewables Private Ltd. (NRPL), which had received the proceeds of crime to the tune of Rs. 64 crores.

. The agency had prayed for the dismissal of the bail plea on the ground that Kochhar was misleading the Court by linking the two separate proceedings (proceedings before Court and adjudication proceedings).

[ICICI Bank case] Mumbai court denies bail to Deepak Kochhar in money laundering case

Neha Joshi

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