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Tribunal upholds ED seizure of Kochhar’s assets worth ₹78-cr
The tribunal slammed Kochhar for not recusing herself from the bank’s sanctioning panel that cleared urgent loans to the Videocon Group.
A Delhi appellate tribunal has upheld the Enforcement Directorate’s attachment of former ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar’s properties worth ₹78 crore, overturning a Mumbai adjudicating authority’s earlier dismissal and ruling there is a “prima facie” money laundering case against her and husband Deepak Kochhar.
The Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited Property (ATFP) said the ₹64 crore transferred by Videocon Group to Deepak Kochhar’s company immediately after ICICI Bank cleared a ₹300 crore loan to Videocon was “quid pro quo”, rejecting Chanda Kochhar’s claims that she was unaware of her husband’s business dealings.
The tribunal criticised Kochhar for failing to distance herself from the bank’s sanctioning committee that approved loans to Videocon Group under the “urgent category”, saying she “cannot plead ignorance” about her husband’s business association with the conglomerate.
“It may be true that the issue will be determined by the trial court but we find a prima facie case against the respondents for commission of the offence of money laundering and, therefore, the provisional attachment order is justified,” the ATFP bench of justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari (chairman) and member Balesh Kumar ruled on July 3, setting aside the Mumbai adjudicating authority’s November 2020 decision.
The case stems from allegations that between June 2009 and October 2011, ICICI Bank sanctioned six high-value rupee term loans totalling ₹1,875 crore to Videocon Group companies. All loans were sanctioned after Kochhar became managing director and chief executive.
The ED alleges the Kochhars received a ₹64 crore bribe from Videocon Group chairman Venugopal Dhoot on August 27, 2009—a day after the bank disbursed ₹300 crore to Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL). Kochhar was a committee member for two loans: ₹300 crore to VIEL and ₹750 crore to Videocon Industries Ltd.
In January 2020, the ED provisionally attached the Kochhars’ assets worth ₹78 crore, terming them proceeds of crime. The attached properties included their flat at CCI Chambers in Church Gate, Mumbai, where Chanda Kochhar lives, and cash worth ₹10.5 lakh.
However, in November 2020, a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) adjudicating authority in Mumbai dismissed the attachment. Under PMLA rules, every attachment must be confirmed by an adjudicating authority within 180 days.
Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhri, representing the Kochhars, said the adjudicating authority’s judgement “was well reasoned and considered all facets” and that the appellate tribunal’s decision “may be vulnerable on both facts and law”.
The tribunal rejected Kochhar’s argument that she was unaware of her husband’s business affairs, saying she was “expected to conduct herself as per the rules and policy of the bank and could not have pleaded ignorance about the association and affairs of the husband”.
“If that is accepted, then conflict of interest in the hands of the officer of the bank while advancing the loan would be for the sake of it and everybody would plead that they were not knowing about the affairs of the better halves or the relatives,” the tribunal observed.
The tribunal noted that instead of distancing herself from loan decisions involving Videocon due to conflict of interest, Kochhar “not only participated in the meeting but sanctioned the loan under urgent category”.
“This is taken to be nothing but commission of crime which includes even the offence under section 420 (cheating) of IPC,” the tribunal added.
Both Chanda and Deepak Kochhar are currently out on bail. Chanda Kochhar stepped down as ICICI Bank’s MD-CEO on October 4, 2018, after irregularity allegations surfaced.
