Around ₹3,250 cr. sanctioned as loans, violating RBI norms

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked Chanda Kochhar, the then managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank, her husband Deepak Kochhar, Videocon Group head Venugopal Dhoot and others for sanction of credit facilities in violation of rules, which caused a loss of ₹1,730 crore to the bank.

The FIR, registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act, was based on a Preliminary Inquiry (PI) initiated by the CBI in December 2017, which traces the sanctioning of the loans amounting to ₹3,250 crore to various companies of the Videocon Group in violation of the Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines and the bank’s credit policy, and the alleged illegal gratification paid by the Videocon Group to the companies owned by Mr. Kochhar.

According to CBI officers, six high-value loans were sanctioned to various companies under the Videocon Group from June 2009 to October 2011.

“In August 2009, a term loan of ₹300 crore was sanctioned to Videocon International Electronic Ltd. in contravention of the rules and policy by the sanctioning committee. Ms. Kochhar was part of this committee,” a CBI officer said.

The CBI on Thursday, conducted searches at four locations in Mumbai and Aurangabad, including the offices of Videocon Group, Nupower Renewables Limited (NRL) and Supreme Energy Private Limited (SEPL).

The raids followed the registration of an FIR against former ICICI CEO Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak and Videocon Industries MD Venugopal Dhoot in connection sanction of credit facilities by the bank to the tune of ₹1,730 crore allegedly in violation of rules.

Among those named in the FIR are Mr. Kochchar’s company NRL, Videocon International Electronics Limited (VIEL), Videocon Industries Limited (VIL) and SEPL.

The role of K.V. Kamath, currently the bank’s non-executive chairman, Sandeep Bakshi, who replaced Ms. Kochhar, K. Ramkumar, Sonjoy Chatterjee, N.S. Kannan, Zarin Daruwala, Rajiv Sabharwal and Homi Khusrokhan may also be investigated, the agency said, though these officials have not been named in the FIR. These officials were members of several committees that sanctioned ₹1,575 crore in loans on various dates.

RBI rules flouted

The CBI case has been registered on the basis of a preliminary enquiry (PI) instituted on December 8, 2017.

During the inquiry, the CBI found that between June 2009 and October 2011, the bank had sanctioned six high-value loans to various Videocon Group firms. On August 26, 2009, ₹300 crore was sanctioned to VIEL in alleged violation of rules. Ms. Kochhar was a member of the sanctioning committee. On September 7, 2009, the loan was disbursed and the very next day, Mr. Dhoot transferred ₹64 crore to NRL via SEPL, as alleged.

This was the first major capital received by NRL to acquire its first power plant,” a CBI officer said.

The officer added that five other loans, collectively amounting to ₹1,575 crore were sanctioned to various companies of the Videocon group, including for refinancing the existing loans of the company, in violation of the credit policy of the bank.

According to the FIR, NRL was incorporated in December 2008 and Mr. Kochhar, Mr. Dhoot and one Saurabh Dhoot were its directors. The Dhoots resigned in January 2009. However, before doing so, the Videocon Group chief allotted over 19.9 lakh warrants valued at ₹10 per unit, to Mr. Kochhar on an initial payment of ₹1 per warrant.

In the case of SEPL, the agency said it was set up in July 2008 by Mr. Dhoot and his associate Vasant Kakade. Mr. Dhoot resigned as a director in January 2009 and transferred the company’s control to Mr. Kochhar by offloading his shares in favour of Pinnacle Energy Trust.

A loan was also sanctioned to Videocon Industries for refinancing its existing loans.

The credit limits in question were sanctioned after Ms. Kochhar took charge of ICICI Bank as MD & CEO in May 2009. She was a committee member that sanctioned a loan of ₹750 crore to VIL and ₹300 crore to VIEL, the CBI alleged. As on April 26, 2012, the outstanding against six loan accounts were adjusted as another term loan of ₹1,730 crore sanctioned under refinance of domestic debt.

The account of VIL and its group companies were declared non-performing assets in June 2017. Meanwhile, shares of Videocon Industries fell 2.29% at ₹2.86 on Thursday, valuing the company at ₹95.66 crore.