Mumbai: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Deepak Kochhar, husband of former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, in connection with a money laundering case, officials said on Monday.
They said Deepak Kochhar was arrested by the agency in Mumbai under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The couple has been questioned by the central probe agency in a case of alleged irregularities and money laundering in giving bank loans to the Videocon group.
The ED, earlier this year, also attached assets worth Rs 78 crore “in possession of” Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar and the companies owned and controlled by him.
Also read: CBI Slaps FIR Against Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar in ICICI Bank-Videocon Loan Case
According to Business Standard, the action follows the hours of grilling based on the evidences which agency had come across with respect to the money trails concerning Kochhar’s business entities including his flagship company Nupower Renewables.
“He has been taken into the agency’s custody for further interrogation as he was not cooperating with the probe,” an unnamed ED official told the newspaper.
According to reports, Kochhar will be produced in Sessions Court or Special Court for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Tuesday where the federal agency likely to seek his five days remand.
Business Standard adds:
The deadline for filing prosecution complaint, also known as chargesheet in the matter ended in August. With this arrest, the ED now suppose to file the complaint in court within 60 days from September. In January, the probe agency had provisionally attached the assets of Kochhar family including their plush-South Mumbai apartment as proceeds of crime. The authority is yet to confirm the attachment as Kochhar reply on the assets are awaiting. This was the main reasons for agency for delay in the filing prosecution.
Sources say that during the fresh round of questioning, Kochhar maintained the stand that the funds received by Videocon Industries to Nupower has no connection with the private lender sanctioning loans around the same time. The probe agency alleged that Videocon group chairman, Venugopal Dhoot had invested in Nupower through his firm Supreme Energy in a quid pro quo to loans cleared by ICICI Bank after Chanda Kochhar took over as the bank’s CEO on May 1, 2009.
The ED’s money-laundering case is based on a first information report filed by the CBI against the Kochhars, Videocon Group chairman Venugopal Dhoot and others. The CBI has accused the former bank chief of alleged quid pro quo through her husband from Videocon for sanctioning a term loan.
It also alleged that the ownership of Nupower and Supreme Energy changed hands through a complex web of shared transactions between Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot.
During its preliminary enquiry, the CBI had found that six loans worth Rs 1,875 crore were sanctioned to the Videocon Group and companies associated with it between June 2009 and October 2011 in alleged violation of laid-down policies of ICICI Bank, which have now become part of the probe.
ED sleuths are probing the proceeds of crime which are suspected to have been used for creating assets including properties owned by the Kochhar family. The CBI had said ICICI Bank sanctioned credit facilities of Rs 3,250 crore to several firms belonging to Videocon group, such as Trend Electronics and Century Appliances, in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, RBI rules, and the bank’s credit policy.
(With inputs from PTI and Business Standard).