ICICI Bank-Videocon Scam: CBI in Fix After it Transfers Officer Who Booked Chanda Kochhar and Others
The decision comes a day after CBI booked Chanda Kochhar and other in the Rs 32.5 billion ICICI Bank-Videocon scam
New Delhi, January 27: Central Bureau of Investigation is news again for transferring the investigating officer who booked former MD and CEO of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar along with her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group’s V N Dhoot for cheating and conspiracy. SP of Banking&Securities Fraud Cell of CBI -- Sudhanshu Dhar Mishra -- was transferred a day after the FIR was registered in the case.
According to the official confirmation, SP Sudhanshu Dhar Mishra has been transferred to the agency’s Economic Offences Branch in Ranchi and would be replaced by SP Biswajit Das of CBI Kolkata Unit’s Economic Offences Branch. Also, another transfer comes in the form of SP Sudip Roy of CBI Kolkata’s Economic Offences Branch-IV who had been posted in place of Das. ICICI Bank-Videocon Scam: CBI Raids Offices of Deepak Kochhar And Venugopal Dhoot in Mumbai in Chanda Kochhar Case.
With the new changes in days, a fresh controversy over the working pattern of CBI is rising again, as Union Minister Arun Jaitley took a jibe on Friday, calling the framing of charges and the pattern followed by CBI to probe the ICICI Bank-Videocon fraud case looks nothing but “investigative adventurism” and a “journey to nowhere.” Rubbing more salt to the wounds were the tweets by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who retweeted Jaitley’s social media post.
In the social media post, Jaitley suggested a piece of 'elderly' advice to the central probing agency and stated that his comments should not be construed as any meddling in the agency. Commenting on Jaitley’s post, a senior government official said, as Indian Express quotes, “Jaitley has made a valid argument. You cannot cast the net too wide on the basis of presumptions without any evidence. How can you name top board members without any evidence? All decision-making will come to a halt.”
However, Congress took the opportunity and accused Jaitley of pressuring the CBI and signalling it to “go slow” in the case. Former Union minister and senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, as the daily quotes, “His statement is extraordinary. It is a clear signal to the CBI to go slow. It also smacks of double standards which, of course, is not new for him. He called Vodafone (case) tax terrorism and then did exactly the same thing in regard to Cairn. He calls ICICI case investigative adventurism yet does exactly the same in regard to his predecessor.” Chanda Kochhar May Face Penalty of Rs 25 Crore If Found Guilty in Videocon Loan Case, SEBI Can't Ask Her to Resign.
As per the case, former ICICI MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband – Deepak Kochhar – were named in the alleged restructuring of Rs 3,250 crore loans to Venugopal Dhoot-controlled Videocon group in 2012. Out of which Rs 2,810 crore loan remains unpaid as of yet.
Though, Kochhar had denied the allegations and said that she has nothing to do with this case, it is speculated that she was asked to take leave till the ICICI-Videocon loan case is solved. Following the whistleblower’s alarm, CBI registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) into the sanctioning of the loan on December 8, 2017.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 27, 2019 11:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).