ED questions Kochhars in ICICI-Videocon case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday questioned former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar here in an ongoing probe into the alleged irregularities and corrupt practices in the sanctioning of a Rs 1,875 crore loan by the bank to the Videocon Group.

They appeared before the ED headquarters here at around 10.30 a.m. following the agency's summons. 

The couple's questioning began soon after they deposed before the investigators. 

The case is related to the alleged irregularities and corrupt practices in the sanction of a Rs 1,875 crore loan disbursed by ICICI Bank to the Videocon Group during 2009 and 2011. The ED got clues about an illegal transaction running to crores of rupees routed to NuPower, a company run by Deepak Kochhar.

The Kochhars were questioned on many occasions last month in Mumbai. This is their first appearance before the ED in Delhi. 

In March, the ED had conducted a series of searches at the residence and office premises of Kochhars as part of its investigations and also questioned them along with Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot.

Allegedly, Dhoot had invested in NuPower Renewables Ltd through his firm Supreme Energy as quid-pro-quo for loans cleared by the ICICI Bank under Chanda Kochhar.

Out of the Rs 40,000 crore loan to the Videocon group, Rs 3,250 crore was given by ICICI Bank and a large portion of the loan by ICICI was unpaid at the end of 2017. 

The bank proceeded to declare the Rs 2,810 crore of unpaid loan as non-performing asset. IANS