Mumbai, March 31: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday interrogated nodal officers of ICICI Bank and recorded their statements over the controversy surrounding the loan sanctioned by the Bank to Videocon Group’s Venugopal Dhoot. As per details by CBI Sources, certain documents in CBI possession are under scrutiny.
The CBI said that it would now call Deepak Kochhar, husband of ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar for his statement. The interrogation is being held as part of a preliminary enquiry to find if any quid pro quo was involved in the bank issuing a Rs 3,250 crore loan to the Videocon Group in 2012.
On Friday, Trustee, Indian Investors Protection Council, Arvind Gupta said that the evidence in the case clearly shows the bank’s CEO, Chanda Kochhar, being a beneficiary of the loan. According to Gupta, Deepak Kochhar, who is Chanda Kochhar’s husband, is an indirect beneficiary of the loan granted to Videocon.
As per details by ANI, Gupta said Venugopal Dhoot transferred money from Videocon Group to Supreme Energy, in which he had 90 percent shares. “He promoted it and later transferred it to Deepak Kochhar. Deepak Kochhar then transferred his shareholdings to Pinnacle Energy. Pinnacle Energy was a trust formed by Kochhar family. Now they are saying they sold their shares of Nupower Renewables much before”, he added.
“NuPower Renewables was special purpose vehicle made to revert allegations in future. ICICI never gave it loan, but company was benefited,” Gupta claimed. He added that the bank is only trying to save itself since the money has become a Non-Performing Asset (NPA).
On Thursday, ICICI Bank Chairman M.K. Sharma came to defence against the loan sanctioned to the debt-laden company, said the ICICI bank’s Board had reviewed the internal processes and details of the exposure to the group. Sharma claimed that attempts were being made to malign the reputation of the bank, its Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He further noted that the share of sanction to Videocon was less than 10 percent, contrary to the media reports.
“ICICI Bank’s current exposure to the group is part of the syndicated consortium arrangement; ICICI was not the lead bank for the consortium. It only sanctioned its share of the facilities aggregating to Rs 3,250 crore,” Sharma added.
To recall, the chairman of the leading private lender further noted that in 2012, a consortium of over 20 banks and financial institutions had sanctioned facilities to Videocon Industries Limited, 12 of its subsidiaries and associates as co-obligors for a debt consolidation programme, and for the group’s oil and gas capital expenditure programme aggregating to Rs 40,000 crore.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 31, 2018 06:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).