Bank Fraud: After the Kochhars, CBI arrests Videocon chief V. Dhoot too

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: Days after arresting former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot as well in a major bank fraud case.

On Saturday, a Special Court in Mumbai remanded the Kochhars and revealed that Dhoot helped Deepak Kochhar get the ownership of Nupower Renewables Ltd (NRL). NRL was incorporated on December 24, 2008, with Deepak Kochhar, Venugopal Dhoot, and Saurabh Dhoot as the company’s first directors.

Venugopal Dhoot and Saurabh Dhoot resigned from the directorship of the company in 2009. However, before resigning, Venugopal allotted 1,997,500 warrants to Deepak Kochhar at the rate of Rs 10 per warrant, on an initial payment of Rs 1 per warrant, the media reported.

In 2009, the shares of NRL held by Venugopal Dhoot and Deepak Kochhar’s group Pacific Capital Services Pvt Ltd were transferred to SEPL, which became a 95 percent shareholder of NRL.

Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL) was incorporated in 2008 with Venugopal Dhoot (9,990 shares) and his associate Vasant Kakade (10 shares) as its first directors. Venugopal Dhoot resigned from the directorship of SEPL in 2009 and transferred control of this company to Deepak Kochhar by transferring his shares to Pinnacle Energy Trust (PET), managed by Deepak Kochhar.

The CBI also alleged that when Chanda Kochhar took charge of the ICICI bank, six loans were wrongfully sanctioned to various companies of Videocon. The federal agency stated that she influenced other committees to sanction loans to the Videocon Group.

The probe agency had alleged cheating and irregularities in loans sanctioned by the bank to the Videocon group between 2009 and 2011 when Kochhar was heading the bank.

On Saturday last week, a special court in Mumbai remanded Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in the CBI’s custody until Monday (December 26) in connection with alleged cheating and irregularities in loans sanctioned by the bank to Videocon Group companies.

Chanda Kochhar, 61, had taken over as the ICICI Bank’s MD and CEO on May 1, 2009, and quit in October 2018 over allegations that she favored Videocon Group, a consumer electronics and oil and gas exploration company.

The CBI had named the Kochhars and Dhoot, along with companies Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd, and Videocon Industries Limited, as accused in the FIR registered under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act in 2019.

The ICICI Bank had sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of Rs 3,250 crore to the companies of Videocon Group promoted by Dhoot in alleged violation of the Banking Regulation Act, RBI guidelines, and credit policy of the bank.

As a part of the quid pro quo, Dhoot invested Rs 64 crore in Nupower Renewables through Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL) and transferred SEPL to Pinnacle Energy Trust managed by Deepak Kochhar through a circuitous route between 2010 and 2012, officials said.

During Chanda Kochhar’s tenure at ICICI Bank, six loans worth Rs 1,875 crore were cleared for the Videocon Group and its associated companies during 2009-11.

She was on the sanctioning committees to decide on two loans — Rs 300 crore to Videocon International Electronics Limited (VIEL) on August 26, 2009, and Rs 750 crore to Videocon Industries Limited on October 31, 2011.

They issued the loans in alleged violation of the laid-down policies and regulations of the bank. Most of these loans became non-performing assets, causing a loss of Rs 1,730 crore to the bank, it alleged.

A day after ICICI Bank disbursed the Rs 300-crore loan to VIEL, Dhoot transferred Rs 64 crore to Nupower Renewables, on September 8, 2009, from Videocon Industries Ltd through SEPL.

“This was the first major capital received by NRL (Nupower Renewables) to acquire the first power plant. Chanda Kochhar got illegal gratification, undue benefit through her husband from VIL/VN Dhoot for sanctioning Rs 300 crore loan to VIEL,” the FIR alleged.