ED arrests Deepak Kochhar in money-laundering probe
Officials said Deepak Kochhar was arrested in Mumbai after he failed to give satisfactory response to fresh evidence gathered by the investigation team suggesting suspicious transactions in his company NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday arrested former ICICI Bank managing director Chanda Kochhar’s husband, Deepak Kochhar, in connection with a money-laundering probe against the couple and companies linkted to them, people familiar with the developments said.
Officials said Deepak Kochhar was arrested in Mumbai after he failed to give satisfactory response to fresh evidence gathered by the investigation team suggesting suspicious transactions in his company NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd.
He was called for questioning and confronted with several documents before being arrested. “He was evading answers to certain questions related to transactions in his company,” said an officer who didn’t wish to be named.
He will be produced in a PMLA (prevention of money laundering act) court on Tuesday morning.
Deepak Kochhar’s lawyer, Vijay Aggarwal, declined to comment.
Deepak Kochhar’s arrest is the first such action in a multi-agency investigation against the couple for decisions Chanda Kochhar took as the head of the private sector ICICI Bank in giving loans to Videocon Group in lieu of alleged bribes.
Chanda Kochhar stepped down from ICICI Bank on October 4, 2018 after allegations of irregularities surfaced.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is also investigating the Kochhars for alleged corruption. In its FIR registered in January last year, CBI alleged that six high-value loans worth Rs 1,875 crore were given by ICICI Bank to Videocon group companies between 2009 and 2011.
While attaching properties worth Rs 78.15 crore belonging to Kochhars in January 2020, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said an amount of Rs 64 crore — out of a loan of Rs 300 crore sanctioned by a committee headed by Chanda Kochhar to Videocon International Electronics Limited — was transferred to M/s NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd by Videocon Industries Limited (VIL) on September 8, 2009, just one day after the disbursement of the loan.
“It is noticed that Chanda Kochhar and Venugopal N Dhoot (chairman-cum-managing director of VIL) are known to each other whereas family members of Chanda Kochhar are having joint holding in certain companies with the persons of Videocon group viz in NRPL (NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd) and SEPL (Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd). The nexus is evident from the changes in the shareholding patterns in the specified companies into and amongst such persons under a design and plan,” said an ED report in possession of HT.
In an investigation report filed in a Delhi court, as first reported by HT in April 2019, ED claimed that it was investigating a total of 24 loans aggregating Rs 7,862 crore that were given by the bank to Videocon Group between 2009 and 2018.
Both the agencies decided to look at quid-pro-quo arrangements between Dhoot and Kochhars after it emerged that former was an investor in Deepak Kochhar’s company.
