Videocon Group loans fraud case: Chanda Kochhar moves HC, challenges ICICI Bank’s sanction to prosecute her

Chanda Kochhar, former managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank, on Monday approached the Bombay high court challenging the sanction granted by the private bank to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute her for her involvement in alleged irregularities in approving of ₹1,875 crore in loans to six Videocon Group firms

Chanda Kochhar, former managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank, on Monday approached the Bombay high court challenging the sanction granted by the private bank to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute her for her involvement in alleged irregularities in approving of ₹1,875 crore in loans to six Videocon Group firms.

**FILE PHOTO** New Delhi: In this file photo dated Sept. 08, 2017, Chairperson ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar at a press conference in Mumbai. According to the officals, the CBI on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019, booked former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon group MD Venugopal Dhoot in connection with alleged cheating and irregularities in loans sanctioned by the bank to the group in 2012. (PTI Photo/ Shashank Parade)(PTI1_24_2019_000100B) (PTI)

The bank’s board of directors, according to CBI, had sent a resolution dated April 22 to the agency allowing it to prosecute Kochhar in the alleged loan fraud. The agency received the resolution on May 15.

During the hearing, Kochhar’s counsel, senior advocate Amit Desai, said the sanction was inconsistent with the stand taken by ICICI Bank in respect of the loans. The bank, according to him, had taken a stand that no wrongful loss was caused to it in the loans sanctioned between June 2009 and October 2011. The loans were granted as per the existing rules and policies, he said.

“The bank’s stand continues to be the same to this day,” Desai said, adding that the sanction was granted only because CBI thought there was some irregularity in the sanctioning of the loans.

The agency, during its investigation pursuant to a case registered in January 2019, found certain irregularities in the rupee-term loans (RTL) of ₹1,875 crore granted to six firms during Kochhar’s tenure as the bank’s CEO and MD. She was even part of the loan committee that approved two of these loans: an RTL of ₹300 crore to M/s Videocon International Electronics Limited and an RTL of ₹750 crore to M/s Videocon Industries Limited, CBI said.

The loan amount was later reduced to ₹1,730 crore after restructuring, and ₹1,033 crore was still outstanding when the FIR was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act in January 2019. CBI said Kochhar misused her position to grant the loans to Videocon Group firms, which were ineligible for any loans from the bank, and in exchange, she and her husband Deepak Kochhar got a kickback of ₹64 crore and a flat in Churchgate.

The agency claimed the Kochhars got the flat in CCI Chambers in Churchgate in 2016 for just ₹11 lakh while her son bought a flat on the same floor of the building in November 2021 for ₹19.11 crore.

CBI arrested Kochhars on December 23, 2022. They were later granted bail by the high court that cited a lack of legal mandate. Later, the agency filed a chargesheet in the special CBI court on March 28, 2023, followed by an additional chargesheet in June to incorporate the sanction granted by the bank.