Mumbai: Enforcement Directorate on Monday arrested Deepak Kochhar in a money laundering case. About a year and a half ago, a case was registered in the ICICI Bank-Videocon case against businessman Deepak Kochhar and his wife Chanda Kochhar. Chanda Kochhar has been the former Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Bank. The money-laundering investigation agency ED recently interrogated Deepak Kochhar. After this, he is arrested on the basis of new evidence.
Let us tell you that ED filed a criminal case against Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar, Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon Group, and Venugopal Dhoot and others under PMLA for investigation of alleged irregularities and corruption in the sanction of a loan of Rs 1,875 crore. This loan was given to Videocon Group from ICICI Bank. After this, the ED took action on this case on the basis of an FIR by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Apart from the Kochhar couple, the CBI had registered a case against the companies of Dhoot. In this, Dhoot’s Videocon International Electronics Ltd. And Videocon Industries Ltd. Was. Deepak Kochhar’s company Newpower Renewables is also named in the CBI’s FIR.
Only last month, a company of Deepak Kochhar allegedly reached the Delhi High Court to get the properties seized by the Enforcement Directorate. The Enforcement Directorate seized the assets of this company last March 2019. The name of this company is Pacific Capital Services Pvt. Ltd. is. The company told the court that the ED can confiscate his property for one year only. After the seizure for one year, no charge sheet has been filed.
After this, the ED had objected to this petition and said that a similar petition regarding the seizure of property is pending in the Bombay High Court. In March last year, Pacific Service Pvt. Ltd. A diary, hard disk and Rs 10.5 lakh were seized in the raid by the ED on the office of the police.
The Kochhar couple rejected the allegations against them
In the interrogation by ED, Chanda Kochhar has denied any disturbance. He had said that it was a collective decision to approve the loan. It was not accepted by any one person. Deepak Kochhar has also dismissed the allegations against him earlier.
What is this ICICI-Videocon Dhoot case
In the year 2010, an amount of 64 crores was given by Dhoot’s company to Deepak Kochhar and his relatives company to NewPower Renewables Private Limited Company. After the same case, a loan of about Rs 3,250 crore was given to Videocon Group from ICIC Bank in the year 2012. Only about 6 months after getting the loan from ICICI Bank, Dhoot owned the company in a transfer of about 9 lakh rupees to a trust of Deepak Kochhar, which is being run by the investigating agency Dhoot.
According to the case registered by the CBI, the company, along with two other relatives, including Venugopal Dhoot and Chanda Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar, had set up that Newpower Renewables Private Limited (NRPL) company. It was only then that the Central Investigation Agency CBI registered the case after ICICI Bank’s lending company Videocon Industries got information about the fraud case involving investment in Chanda Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar’s company. Later, on the basis of the same case, the ED also took over the matter and questioned several accused including Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar several times. Due to this allegation, Chanda Kochhar had to resign from her post in October 2018.
