[ By Bobby Anthony ]The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached Rs 78 crore worth of properties belonging to former ICICI Bank Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer Chanda Kochhar as part of its probe into a money laundering case involving ICICI Bank and the Videocon Group.The provisionally attached properties include her Mumbai apartment and those belonging to a...
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has provisionally attached Rs 78 crore worth of properties belonging to former ICICI Bank Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer Chanda Kochhar as part of its probe into a money laundering case involving ICICI Bank and the Videocon Group.
The provisionally attached properties include her Mumbai apartment and those belonging to a company owned by Chanda Kochhar's husband, Deepak Kochhar.
The ED had registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochchar and Venugopal Dhoot of the Videocon Group in 2019 to probe alleged irregularities and corrupt practices in the sanctioning of Rs 1,875 crore in loans by the ICICI Bank.
The ED action was based on a first information report (FIR) by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is running an independent investigation.
In its probe the CBI had named the Kochhars and two of Dhoot's companies – Videocon International Electronics Ltd and Videocon Industries Ltd. It had also named Supreme Energy (a company founded by Dhoot) and NuPower Renewables, a company controlled by Chanda’s husband Deepak Kochhar.
It may be recalled that Chanda Kochhar was accused of breaching the private sector lender’s norms in granting out-of-turn loans of about Rs 3,250 crore to the Videocon Group, which allegedly benefited her husband, Deepak Kochhar.
Under the PMLA, the ED’s provisional attachment order will be valid within 180 days of the attachment, until a court confirms it and allows it to make a final confiscation on the basis that properties were made out of the proceeds of money laundering.
Earlier, the Income Tax Department investigated the acquisition of the apartment by the Kochhar family in South Mumbai in a complex deal involving companies linked to Videocon Group.
In December 2019, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) told the Bombay High Court that it had acted as per law and that there was no violation of Chanda Kochhar’s fundamental rights by its approval of her termination from ICICI Bank.
However, Chanda Kochhar's lawyers mentioned out that her sacking notice came months after the ICICI Bank had already accepted her voluntary resignation on October 4, 2018, and therefore her termination was illegal. The matter will be next heard on January 13, 2020.