Chanda Kochhar, husband remanded to CBI custody till Monday in Videocon loan case

Chanda Kochhar and her husband were arrested in connection with six loans advanced by the ICICI Bank to Videocon when she was the bank’s MD and CEO

A special court in Mumbai on Saturday remanded former ICICI Bank managing director (MD) Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody till Monday in Videocon loan case.

Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar leave after appearing in a special CBI court in Mumbai on Saturday. (PTI)

CBI arrested Kochhars on Friday evening in Delhi. They were brought to Mumbai on Saturday morning and produced before the special CBI court, when CBI prosecutors A Lemozine and PKB Gaikwad sought their custody remand for three days.

The central agency informed the court that Kochhars were arrested in connection with a case registered by them in 2019 in connection with six loans advanced by the ICICI Bank to Videocon when Chanda Kochhar was the private bank’s MD and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the transactions resulted in a loss of ₹1,875 crore to the bank. After restructuring the loss is taken to be ₹1,730 crore.

In its application seeking custody remand of the couple, the agency said that in June 2009 and October 2011, ICICI Bank had sanctioned a rupee term loan of ₹1,875 crore to six companies of the Videocon Group for the purpose of enabling them to repay the unsecured loan availed by these companies from M/s Videocon Industries Limited (VIL).

All these loans were sanctioned after Chanda Kochhar became the MD and CEO of the bank, said the plea, adding that Chanda Kochhar was also on the loan committee when two of these loans were cleared i.e. RTL of ₹300 crore to M/s Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) and RTL of ₹750 crore to M/s VIL. Besides, the bank had also released the security available in the form of FDR of ₹50 crore in the accounts of M/s Sky Appliance Ltd. and M/s Techno Electronic Ltd without any justification.

The agency added that after the transaction of loan granted to VIEL of ₹300 crore, an amount of ₹64 crore was received by Deepak Kochhar as a kick back.

The agency also informed the court that it is also probing the transaction by which a flat in Mumbai, valued around ₹5.25 crore, was transferred to the family trust of Kochhars.

“The flat was under litigation for possession between Videocon Industries Limited and Shri Deepak Kochhar. Subsequently, the flat (valued at ₹5.25 crore in 1996) was transferred to Quality Advisor, a family trust of Shri Deepak Kochhar at meagre amount of Rs.11 lacs in 2016,” CBI said in its remand plea.

The agency further said there was a violation of provisions of banking transactions and also of guidelines laid down by the Reserved Bank of India. The agency hence filed a plea to add the charge of Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by banker) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) which provides maximum punishment of up to life imprisonment.

Objecting to the remand plea, the couple’s counsel, senior advocate Amit Desai, claimed that the arrest of the couple was illegal and hence they cannot be remanded to CBI custody.

Desai contended that the case has been under investigation since 2018, when CBI began a preliminary probe. He pointed out that they had not been arrested for so many years and there were no allegations that the Kochhars attempted to hamper the probe and their detailed statements with supporting documents have all been submitted with the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Desai also referred to the letter written by ICICI Bank to the agency in July 202I, stating that the bank had not suffered any wrongful loss due to any of these transactions and stated that there were “errors of facts in the CBI FIR.”

The defence also relied upon the order of adjudicating authority in connection with the proceedings for attachment of Kochhar’s flat at CCI Chambers in Mumbai, under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. Desai pointed out that the authority clearly said that the transaction of ₹64 crore was independent of the loan given to Videocon by the bank.

After hearing both the sides, the court remanded the couple to CBI custody till Monday.