According to CBI, on August 26, 2009, the sanctioning committee of ICICI Bank that included Chanda Kochhar approved a loan of Rs 300 crore to Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) “in contravention of the rules and policy”.
Kochhar, the CBI alleged, “dishonestly” abused her official position to disburse this loan on September 7, 2008 as the very next day, her husband’s firm Nupower Renewables received Rs 64 crore from Videocon Industries Ltd (VIL) to acquire its first power plant.
“…Chanda Kochhar got illegal gratification/undue benefit through her husband from M/s VIL/VN Dhoot for sanctioning RTL (rupee term loan) of Rs 300 crore to M/s VIEL,” the agency said in its FIR. The fresh action by the CBI comes a week before an investigation report into various allegations against Chanda Kochhar and ICICI Bank is to be submitted by a panel headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice B N Srikrishna.
The mandate of the enquiry, instituted by the bank on May 30, 2018, is to probe a whistleblower complaint alleging non-adherence of code of conduct, conflict of interest and quid pro quo by Chanda Kochhar, while dealing “with certain borrowers” of the bank.
“My report is independent of the CBI action. There has been no communication with the CBI on this issue. The final report will be submitted not before the end of this month,” Justice Srikrishna told The Indian Express Thursday.
The CBI, in its FIR, said that rupee term loan sanctioned to five companies of Videocon Group between June 2009 and October 2011 were “in violation of the credit policy of the bank”.
The five firms are Millenium Appliances India Ltd (Rs 175 crore), Sky Appliances Ltd (Rs 240 crore), Techno Electronics Ltd (Rs 110 crore), Applicomp India Ltd (Rs 300 crore) and Videocon Industries Ltd (Rs 750 crore). “Loans sanctioned to M/s SAL, M/s TEL and M/s AIL were for the purpose of enabling then to repay the unsecured loans availed by these companies from M/s VIL. Further, a loan was also sanctioned to M/s VIL for refinancing the existing loans of the company. These loans were sanctioned in violation of credit policy of the bank during the relevant period,” said the CBI FIR.
The CBI said all the credit limits to Videocon Group firms were sanctioned after Kochhar took over as the MD and CEO of ICICI Bank in May 2009. The agency also said Kochhar was part of the sanctioning committee that approved at least two loans of Rs 300 crore and Rs 750 crore respectively to VIEL and VIL.
On October 4, 2018, Kochhar resigned from her post at the bank. She had been on leave since June 18, 2018 pending investigation by the Srikrishna panel.