ICICI Bank-Videocon loan case: CBI proposes to probe criminal conspiracy

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Wednesday sought to expand the remit of its ongoing probe into the ICICI Bank-Videocon Group loan sanctioning case, proposing to examine the roles of "unknown public servants" and other individuals while seeking further custody of the bank's former chief executive Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak, and Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot.

The CBI's remand plea for the three arrested also stressed on the angle of criminal conspiracy. "The accused persons are also required to be further interrogated to unearth criminal conspiracy with other unknown public servants and unknown private persons," said CBI's remand application for the Kochhars and Dhoot. The special holiday court granted further custody till Thursday.

The Kochhars were arrested on Friday and Dhoot was held on Monday in connection with the CBI probe into ₹1,730 crore of loans sanctioned by ICICI Bank to the Videocon Group when Chanda Kochhar was the lender's MD & CEO.


Sources privy to the investigation told ET that Kochhar maintained during her questioning that the loans sanctioned to Videocon entities were the outcomes of 'collective decisions' by a committee, and that all the loans under the scanner were cleared by the committee.

'Husband's Biz, Not Mine'
"While this leg of the probe is concentrating on the six loans sanctioned when Chanda was the MD & CEO, the committee members will be required to be quizzed as Chanda, during her questioning, maintains that the decision to sanction the loans to Videocon Group was taken by the committee and not in an individual capacity by her," said a person privy to the developments.

Sources told ET, however, that members of the loan-sanctioning committee will likely be called only as witnesses. A legal view is awaited even for calling them as witnesses.

Kochhar, meanwhile, has also distanced herself from her husband, saying that he was running an independent business, and that she was never privy or party to any business decisions taken by Deepak Kochhar, official sources told ET.

"To ascertain if the decisions by Chanda were in violation of the central bank norms and that the claims made by her (of a collective decision) are in fact an alibi, questioning of the other committee members is necessary," said another official. "However, questioning...would require prior sanctions from the bank. Therefore, questioning, if any, would be in the capacity of a witness under the Code of Criminal Procedure. Legal opinion on this will be sought before proceeding further."

In November 2020, the adjudicating authority (AA), Tushar Shah, Member (Law), had observed while passing a ruling under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) that the CBI's first information report (FIR), which concentrated on ₹300 crore of term loans by ICICI Bank to Videocon International Electronics, had not turned into a non-performing asset (NPA).

Shah had further observed that the investment of ₹64 crore by Dhoot in NuPower Renewables, managed by Deepak Kochhar, was not linked in any way with the FIR filed by CBI. He also observed that both the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, while probing the same case, had failed to interrogate any of the senior officials mentioned in the FIR as committee members.

Focus on ₹64-Cr 'Investment'
Sources told ET that Dhoot, along with the Kochhars, were confronted by CBI on Tuesday night. These sources said the main point of the probe is the ₹64 crore received by Deepak Kochhar's company a day after ICICI Bank disbursed a term loan of ₹300 crore to a Videocon entity.

These sources further said Dhoot claimed it was a 'genuine business investment' made by him in Kochhar's company. "While availing the loan, Dhoot has nowhere mentioned that a part of the loan will be used to invest in Kochhar's company. He is not able to explain why he transferred ₹64 crore from the loan disbursed by ICICI Bank, but claims the money to be a genuine investment," said a person privy to the line of investigation.

"When quizzed on why he never made any attempts to recover the loans given to Kochhar's firm, he has kept on changing his stance and is avoiding the questions," said another official.

Sources said Dhoot was not able to explain the advance of ₹64 crore to the entity owned by Deepak Kochhar, and the lack of effort to recover the funds. "It is clear Videocon Group had no serious intention to recover the funds," said a source, explaining the detailed chronology of entries dating as far back as 2009.

On Wednesday, defence counsels Kushal Mor and Rohan Dakshini representing the Kochhars argued that grounds on which the custody was sought is same as those mentioned in the previous applications of the agency. They also contended the prosecution sanction issued by the bank states 'no wrongful loss caused to the bank'.