ICICI Bank Rs 3,250 Crore Loan Case: Latest Developments
The case in a nutshell: As per a newspaper report, Videocon Group's Venugopal Dhoot, in 2008, set up a company Nupower Renewables with Deepak Kochhar, husband of ICICI Bank's managing director and CEO Chanda Kochhar, and two of her relatives. Mr Dhoot later lent Rs 64 crore loan to this company through Supreme Energy, an entity owned by him. Later, he transferred the ownership of this entity to a trust headed by Deepak Kochhar for a meagre amount of just Rs. 9 lakh, The Indian Express investigation discovered.
What Does Venugopal Dhoot Say: He says that he didn't even know if Chanda Kochhar was associated with ICICI Bank when the bank had given loan to his firm, PTI reported. About his stake in Nupower, he said that he invested Rs 2.5 lakh in it since he regularly invests small amounts in start-ups. However, he decided to exit the investment of Rs 2.5 lakh as Videocon discovered oil reserves which was not aligned with the business of Nupower, and returned his 50 per cent stake to Deepak Kochhar, thus transferring the control of company to Kocchar.
Dhoot said that he knew Deepak Kochhar through his friend and IAS officer, former Maharashtra chief secretary Sharad Upasani. He had no contact with either Deepak Kochhar or Chanda Kochhar after the return of the stake of Nupower.
On Chanda Kochhar, Dhoot said that she did nothing illegal. She was only one of the 12 members of the committee which cleared the loan to Videocon Group. He also said that he knew all 12 members, and committee's head Kamath used to have lunch with him.
What Does ICICI Bank Say: The bank stands by Chanda Kochhar. The private lender said that the decision to lend the money was not solely taken by Chanda Kochhar. The Credit Committee of ICICI Bank in 2012 sanctioned its share of facilities in the syndicated arrangement to the Videocon Group. She was not the committee's chairperson. It was a 12-member committee headed by then chairman KV Kamath. Besides this, ICICI Bank gave a part (Rs 3,250 crore) of the massive loan of Rs 40,000 lent by a consortium of 20 banks. So, this means ICICI Bank gave less than 10% of the total loan given by 20 banks.
Latest Developments in ICICI Bank's Rs 3,250 Crore Loan Case:
A. CBI filed a preliminary enquiry (PE) into the alleged nexus between ICICI Bank's Chanda Kochhar and Venugopal Dhoot. The federal agency has already examined a few officials of ICICI bank.
B. Chanda Kochhar's name has not been named in the enquiry.
C. It is believed that Deepak Kochhar and Venugopal Dhoot will be called shortly for examination by the federal agency.
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