The CBI has arrested Venugopal Dhoot in connection with the ICICI Bank loan fraud case, two days after the arrest of Chanda Kochhar and her husband, Deepak Kochhar.

In connection with the ICICI Bank loan fraud case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) detained Videocon group founder Venugopal Dhoot on Monday. According to sources, Chanda Kochhar, the former CEO and MD of the ICICI Bank, and her husband, Deepak Kochhar, were detained by the CBI on Friday in connection with the suspected ICICI Bank-Videocon money laundering case. His arrest comes three days after their detention.

In the FIR filed in 2019 under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the agency had named the Kochhars and Dhoot as well as businesses Nupower Renewables (NRL), which was managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd, and Videocon Industries Limited as accused parties. 

The ICICI Bank loan fraud case-

According to the CBI, the Banking Regulation Act, RBI instructions, and ICICI Bank’s credit policy were all broken when the bank granted credit facilities totaling Rs. 3,250 crore to Videocon Group firms that were backed by Dhoot.

Additionally, it was claimed in the FIR that between 2010 and 2012, Dhoot invested 64 crore rupees through Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL) in Nupower Renewables in exchange for something and that he then transferred SEPL to Pinnacle Energy Trust, which is run by Deepak Kochhar. The FIR also claimed that Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot were involved in a complex web of shared transactions that resulted in the ownership of Nupower and Supreme Energy changing hands.

According to the CBI, a committee of which Ms. Kochhar was a member approved the loan. According to the agency, she abused her position and received “illegal gratification/undue benefit through her husband from Dhoot for sanctioning 300 crore to Videocon.”

This loan was a portion of one that Videocon received from a group of 20 banks, led by the State Bank of India, for a total of 40,000 crore.

Due to claims that she had favoured the Videocon Group, a manufacturer of consumer electronics and an oil and gas exploration business, Chanda Kochhar, 59, resigned from her positions as CEO and managing director of ICICI Bank in October 2018.

A year later, ICICI said that it would classify Ms. Kochhar’s departure as “termination for cause,” claiming that she had broken the bank’s code of conduct and internal standards.

Chanda Kochhar was fired from her position as ICICI Bank’s chief executive officer (CEO) as a result of charges of wrongdoing. The enforcement authorities had earlier claimed that Kochhar had broken the bank’s lending guidelines by authorising “high value” loans to Videocon Industries. In return, the owner of Videocon made an investment in Deepak Kochhar’s NuPower Renewables.

The CBI discovered six loans totaling Rs 1,875 crore were approved for the Videocon Group and businesses connected to it between June 2009 and October 2011 in what is believed to be a violation of ICICI Bank’s established rules. The loans were classified as non-performing assets (NPAs) by the agency in 2012, which resulted in a loss to the lender of Rs 1,730 crore.

Investigations into these claims were conducted by a number of organisations, including the CBI, ED, and Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).

ICICI Bank-Videocon money laundering scam case-

Chanda Kochhar, a former ICICI Bank CEO and MD, and her husband, Deepak Kochhar, were detained by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday in relation to alleged fraud and irregularities in loans the bank granted to the business in 2012.

In the FIR filed under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the CBI reportedly named Chanda Kochhar, her husband, Venugopal Dhoot of the Videocon Group, along with companies Nupower Renewables, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd, and Videocon Industries Limited, as defendants.

Prior to Chanda Kochhar’s appointment, Indian enforcement agencies claimed that ICICI Bank approved “high value” loans to Videocon Industries in violation of the bank’s lending guidelines.

The authorities said that in return, the owner of Videocon made an investment in Deepak Kochhar’s NuPower Renewables.

The Enforcement Directorate was looking into the massive money laundering scheme (ED).

In September of last year, the ED made an arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) of Kochhar, one of the principal defendants in the ICICI-Videocon loan case.

The issue concerns Rs 3,250 crore in loans that the ICICI made to the Videocon Group, which is owned by businessman Venugopal Dhoot, while Chanda Kochhar was the bank’s president.

About eight of the approximately 28 bids that the Videocon Group submitted to the ICICI Bank were approved. In four of these suggestions submitted by the Videocon group, Chanda Kochhar was a member of the committee that approved and gave recommendations.

Between 2009 and 2011, the ICICI Bank approved loans for the Videocon Group and its affiliated businesses totaling 1,875 crore. The majority of these loans were in flagrant breach of ICICI Bank policy and banking regulations.

At the time, Chanda Kochhar served as the ICICI Bank’s CEO and Managing Director.

It has been claimed that Chanda Kochhar served on the committee that approved two loans: 750 crore on October 31, 2011 and 300 crore on August 26, 2009, both to Videocon International Electronics Limited (VIEL), according to the sanctioning committee’s decision.

The FIR stated that the loans were allegedly provided in violation of the bank’s established policies and procedures.

It claimed that the bank lost  Rs 1,730 crore as a result of the majority of these loans turning into non-performing assets.

According to the lawsuit, on September 8, 2009, Dhoot transferred 64 crores to Nupower Renewables, a company run by Deepak Kochhar, a day after ICICI Bank issued a 300 crore credit to VIEL.

Within months of the loans being approved, Dhoot’s Supreme Energy had given NuPower Renewables, in which Deepak Kochhar owns a 50% stake, a loan of Rs 64 crore.

According to investigators, the 64 crore loan to Kochhar’s company was part of a trade-off.

During its inquiry, the ED discovered that loans approved for the Videocon group were maintained by refinancing or evergreen IMG of loans totaling about Rs. 1,730 crore, which became NPA in June 2017.