CBI Claims ICICI’s Loan To Videocon Group Turned Into NPAs Worth Rs 1000 Crore

The charge sheet was filed lately before a special court for the CBI cases and consists of more than 10,000 pages.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has claimed that the credit facilities authorised by the ICICI Bank to the Videocon group became non-performing assets (NPAs) worth more than Rs 1,000 crore. In it’s chargesheet filed in the ICICI Bank-Videocon Group case on Saturday, the investigation agency has made the claims against ICICI’s former CEO Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Venugopal Dhoot, founder of Videocon group.

According to a PTI report, the charge sheet was filed lately before a special court for the CBI cases and consists of more than 10,000 pages. Both the parties, the Kochhars and Dhoot are out on bail now.

The chargesheet claims that six ‘Rupee Term Loans’ (RTLs) were provided to Videocon Group from May 1, 2009, after Chanda Kochhar became the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) for the bank.

It further alleges that between June 2009 to October 2011, RTLs worth Rs 1,875 crore were authorised to the group by the bank, as per the report. 

In August 2009, another RTL worth Rs 300 crore was sanctioned to Videocon International Electronics Limited (VIEL) by a two-member Committee of Directors. Chandan Kochhar acted as the chairperson of the committee, the charge sheet claimed. 

Kochhar was also a part of the committee of senior managers (recommending committee) and a credit committee (sanctioning committee) to sanction RTL worth Rs 750 crore to Videocon Industries Limited (VIL) around October, 2011. The charge sheet claims Kochhar was a part of committees which authorised multiple loan limits to Videocon Group even after 2012. 

These credit facilities provided by the ICICI bank converted into NPAs in June 2017, worth Rs 1,033 crore. This led to a loss of Rs 1,033 crore plus interest for the bank, the charge sheet stated. 

CBI alleged that Dhoot along with Kochhars and other parties made a plan in December 2008, post Chanda Kochhar’s MD and CEO appointment announcement to give sanctioned loans to Videocon. 

The investigation agency further stated in the charge sheet that Chanda Kochhar’s residential flat in Mumbai was owned by Videocon Group and was later transferred to her family trust for a meager amount of Rs 11 lakh in October 2016. The actual valuation of the flat was around Rs 5.25 crore. 

Kochhar not only accepted the “illegal gratification” of Rs 64 crore but also inappropriately used the bank’s funds for her individual use, the charge sheet alleged. 

Her husband Deepak Kochhar misused his wife’s position and “conspired with others to get sanctioned credit facilities by ICICI Bank in favour of Videocon Group”, claimed CBI. 

The agency has also accused Nupower Renewables (NRL), managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd and Videocon Industries Limited in the case.