The agency had named the Kochhars and Dhoot, as well as companies Nupower Renewables (NRL) which was 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 CBI had alleged that ICICI Bank had sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of ₹3,250 crore to the companies of Videocon Group promoted by Dhoot in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, RBI guidelines, and credit policy of the bank.
It was also alleged that as a part of the quid pro quo, Dhoot made an investment of ₹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, the FIR alleged, further adding that the ownership of Nupower and Supreme Energy changed hands through a complex web of shared transactions between Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot.
The ICICI Bank loan fraud case
Chanda Kochhar was ousted as ICICI bank's chief executive officer (CEO) in 2019 following allegations of corruption. The enforcement authorities previously alleged that Kochhar sanctioned ‘high value’ loans to Videocon Industries, violating the bank's lending policies. In exchange, Videocon's owner invested in NuPower Renewables, a company founded by Deepak Kochhar.
During its preliminary enquiry, the CBI found six loans worth ₹1,875 crore were sanctioned to the Videocon Group and companies associated with it between June 2009 and October 2011 in an alleged violation of laid-down policies of ICICI Bank. As per the agency, the loans were declared non-performing assets (NPAs) in 2012 which caused a a loss of ₹1,730 crore to the lender.
Such allegations led to probes by multiple agencies, including the CBI, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).
(With inputs from agencies)
