Deepak Kochhar arrest: Transactions worth ₹15 cr under ED lens
Deepak Kochhar’s remand, a day after his arrest, came as the ED investigates over two dozen transactions worth over Rs 15 crore in three bank accounts of Deepak Kochhar in Mumbai between 2008 and 2019, people familiar with the development said.
A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Tuesday remanded former ICICI Bank managing director Chanda Kochhar’s husband, Deepak Kochhar, until September 10 to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Deepak Kochhar’s remand, a day after his arrest, came as the ED investigates over two dozen transactions worth over Rs 15 crore in three bank accounts of Deepak Kochhar in Mumbai between 2008 and 2019, people familiar with the development said.
Additional solicitor general Anil Singh, along with Sunil Gonsalves, seeking Kochhar’s custody, argued that his interrogation was required to determine crucial aspects of funds received by his company and unravel the money trail.
The 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 to ED investigators.
The central agency sought details from Deepak Kochhar about these two transactions in his HDFC Bank account but said he had not provided them until Monday. In fact, he was questioned about these transactions before his arrest Monday night in Mumbai, said an officer who didn’t want to be named.
ED is also looking into the transactions carried out by Deepak Kochhar with two companies , Pacific Capital Services Pvt Ltd (PCSPL) and Opel Properties Pvt Ltd (OPPL), suspected to be linked to him, according to documents reviewed by HT.
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 received Rs 75,000 from OPPL on January 27, 2010. In all, there were nine transactions in DBS, the documents show.
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. 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 the agency sought details of at least 15 transactions in Deepak Kochhar’s HDFC Bank account on different occasions; it wants to know the details of the senders and purposes of transfers. The 15 payments, totaling around Rs 9 crore, were made within a period of three months, from June 29, 2010 to September 18, 2010. These payments ranged from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 2 crore.
“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,” the officer cited above said.
ED took up the probe into money laundering after the Central Bureau of Investigation registered a case of corruption against the Kochhar couple. CBI initiated its inquiry in 2017 against the couple on the basis of a whistle blower complaint about quid pro quos for loans sanctioned by ICICI Bank.
In a first information report registered in January last year, CBI alleged that six high-value loans worth Rs 1,875 crore were given by ICICI Bank to the Videocon Group of companies between 2009 and 2011. It said that a 2009 credit facility to Videocon was extended in contravention of rules and policy of the sanction committee, of which Chanda Kochhar was a member.
It alleged that a loan of Rs 300 crore was disbursed to Videocon International Electronics Limited on September 7, 2009, out of which an amount of Rs 64 crore was transferred to Deepak Kochhar’s NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd by Videocon the following day.
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