A Mumbai Court on July 15 took cognizance of the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Videocon-ICICI Bank loan case..Special CBI judge SP Naik-Nimbalkar also summoned the accused including former ICICI Bank Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot to remain present in court on August 2..The court observed that the evidence prima facie showed that Kochhar had received part of the loan given by the bank to Videocon Group as ‘reward,’ through companies established by her husband.The judge elaborated that CBI had collected sufficient material during investigation to substantiate the allegations against the accused persons.“On going through the evidence and allegations in the charge-sheet, it can be safely inferred, prima facie, there are grounds to believe that the accusation is well founded. The allegation pertaining to concealment of facts, committing irregularity while sanctioning of loans, diversion of the loan amount, misutilization of funds by not using the same the purpose for which it was sanctioned, receiving part of loan as motive/reward by public servant through companies established by her husband, concealment of interest in the loan proposal and thereby violating the circulars issued by RBI in this regard as well as illegal gratification received by the public servant, are, prima facie, evident on record," the order said..The court also opined that the offences pertaining to criminal conspiracy, hatching of criminal conspiracy pursuant to the object of cheating and criminal breach of trust can be attributed only to public servants, bankers, merchants or agents, and that Chanda Kochhar was the only public servant involved in this case..Chanda and her husband Deepak Kochhar were arrested by the CBI on December 24 last year on allegations of cheating and irregularities in the loan of ₹3,250 crore granted to the Videocon Group in 2012.The complainant had alleged that Kochhar's husband and her family members benefited from the dealings.It was alleged that when Kochhar was at the helm of affairs at ICICI Bank, she cleared a loan for Videocon Group of Companies. As quid pro quo, her husband's company Nu Renewable allegedly received investment from Videocon.The loan later turned into a non-performing asset NPA and was termed as bank fraud..After initial CBI custody, the special CBI court had remanded them to judicial custody on December 29.On January 9, the High Court ordered Kochhar and her husband's release on interim bail holding that their arrest did not satisfy the provisions of law under Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).The court had on January 14 permitted CBI to add charges of criminal breach of trust against Chanda. .CBI’s chargesheet alleged that in 2009 to 2011, ICICI Bank had sanctioned six loans to companies linked to Videocon Group. Around the same time, ₹64 crore was received by a company linked to Deepak. ICICI Bank referred to this amount of ₹64 crore as a ground for granting sanction to prosecute Chanda. .[Read order]
A Mumbai Court on July 15 took cognizance of the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Videocon-ICICI Bank loan case..Special CBI judge SP Naik-Nimbalkar also summoned the accused including former ICICI Bank Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot to remain present in court on August 2..The court observed that the evidence prima facie showed that Kochhar had received part of the loan given by the bank to Videocon Group as ‘reward,’ through companies established by her husband.The judge elaborated that CBI had collected sufficient material during investigation to substantiate the allegations against the accused persons.“On going through the evidence and allegations in the charge-sheet, it can be safely inferred, prima facie, there are grounds to believe that the accusation is well founded. The allegation pertaining to concealment of facts, committing irregularity while sanctioning of loans, diversion of the loan amount, misutilization of funds by not using the same the purpose for which it was sanctioned, receiving part of loan as motive/reward by public servant through companies established by her husband, concealment of interest in the loan proposal and thereby violating the circulars issued by RBI in this regard as well as illegal gratification received by the public servant, are, prima facie, evident on record," the order said..The court also opined that the offences pertaining to criminal conspiracy, hatching of criminal conspiracy pursuant to the object of cheating and criminal breach of trust can be attributed only to public servants, bankers, merchants or agents, and that Chanda Kochhar was the only public servant involved in this case..Chanda and her husband Deepak Kochhar were arrested by the CBI on December 24 last year on allegations of cheating and irregularities in the loan of ₹3,250 crore granted to the Videocon Group in 2012.The complainant had alleged that Kochhar's husband and her family members benefited from the dealings.It was alleged that when Kochhar was at the helm of affairs at ICICI Bank, she cleared a loan for Videocon Group of Companies. As quid pro quo, her husband's company Nu Renewable allegedly received investment from Videocon.The loan later turned into a non-performing asset NPA and was termed as bank fraud..After initial CBI custody, the special CBI court had remanded them to judicial custody on December 29.On January 9, the High Court ordered Kochhar and her husband's release on interim bail holding that their arrest did not satisfy the provisions of law under Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).The court had on January 14 permitted CBI to add charges of criminal breach of trust against Chanda. .CBI’s chargesheet alleged that in 2009 to 2011, ICICI Bank had sanctioned six loans to companies linked to Videocon Group. Around the same time, ₹64 crore was received by a company linked to Deepak. ICICI Bank referred to this amount of ₹64 crore as a ground for granting sanction to prosecute Chanda. .[Read order]
