The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating over two dozen transactions worth over Rs 15 crore in Deepak Kochhar’s three bank accounts in Mumbai between 2008 and 2019, people familiar with the development said.
Two transactions, one worth Rs 2.20 crore by Chanda Kochhar in her husband’s account on November 23, 2010 and another – worth Rs 1.39 crore - by her sister Karna Varuna Jaiprakash on January 14, 2016, are of particular interest for the ED investigators.
The central agency had sought details from Deepak Kochhar about these two payments in his HDFC Bank account but he had not provided the same till Monday. In fact, he was questioned about these transactions before the arrest, an officer who didn’t want to be named, said.
ED is also looking into the transactions - including date, amount involved and purpose of transactions - carried out by Deepak Kochhar with two companies - Pacific Capital Services Pvt Ltd (PCSPL) and Opel Properties Pvt Ltd (OPPL) – allegedly linked to him, according to documents accessed by HT.
It says that Deepak Kochhar received Rs 40 lakh in his DBS Bank account in Mumbai from OPPL on June 26, 2009 out of which Rs 39 lakh was transferred to his company NuPower Renewables Ltd (NRL) the very next day. Subsequently, he got Rs 75,000 from OPPL on January 27, 2010. In all, there were nine transactions in DBS, documents suggest.
{{/usCountry}}It says that Deepak Kochhar received Rs 40 lakh in his DBS Bank account in Mumbai from OPPL on June 26, 2009 out of which Rs 39 lakh was transferred to his company NuPower Renewables Ltd (NRL) the very next day. Subsequently, he got Rs 75,000 from OPPL on January 27, 2010. In all, there were nine transactions in DBS, documents suggest.
{{/usCountry}}On May 2, 2008, he received Rs 20 lakh in his ICICI Bank account in Mumbai from OPPL, which was transferred to NRL on May 4 (two days later). An amount of Rs 65,000 was received by him in the same account from PCSPL on July 30, 2008.
ED documents also reveal that that ED had sought details of at least 15 transactions in Deepak Kochhar’s HDFC Bank account on different occasions as it wants to know the details of sender and purpose of transfer. The 15 payments, totaling around Rs 9 crore, were made within a period of three months, from June 29, 2010 and September 18, 2010. These payments ranged from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 2 crore.
The official cited above said – “All these transactions point to layering and money laundering. But we want to be sure so we asked Deepak Kochhar. However, he was being evasive. We hope he will reveal all details during custodial interrogation”.