ICICI Bank-Videocon Case : ED Files Chargesheet Against Kochhars, Dhoot On Money Laundering Charges

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed its first chargesheet against former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot on money laundering charges, official sources said . They said the chargesheet or the prosecution complaint has been filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). It was filed before a special court in Mumbai on Tuesday and the court is yet to take cognisance of it, sources said.

The central probe agency had arrested Deepak Kochhar in September after it filed a criminal case of money laundering after studying an FIR registered by the CBI against the Kochhars, Dhoot and others. It slapped money laundering charges against the Kochhars and their business entities for “illegal sanctioning of loans amounting to Rs 1,875 crore to the Videocon Group of companies”.

The ED had earlier said an amount of Rs 64 crore, out of the loan amount of Rs 300 crore sanctioned by a committee headed by Chanda Kochhar to Videocon International Electronics Limited, was transferred to Nupower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRPL) by Videocon Industries Limited on September 8, 2009, just a day after disbursement of loan by ICICI Bank. NRPL was earlier known as Nupower Renewables Limited (NRL) and is a company of Deepak Kochhar.

The agency had alleged that the “net revenue of Rs 10.65 crore was generated by NRL from these tainted funds”. “Therefore, proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 74.65 crore were transferred to or to say generated in NRPL,” the ED had claimed.