Former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar Convicted in ₹64 Crore Bribery Case Linked to ₹300 Crore Loan
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): Former CEO and Managing Director of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar has been found guilty of taking bribe in exchange for giving loan to Videocon Group. An appellate tribunal has clarified in its decision that Chanda Kochhar had received a bribe of Rs 64 crore in exchange for passing a loan of Rs 300 crore to Videocon Group.
Hearing the case of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the tribunal said in its order on July 3 that this is a clear case of “Quid Pro Quo” i.e. 'something in exchange for something'. According to the decision, the very next day after the loan amount was approved, a company associated with Videocon transferred this money to a company controlled by Chanda Kochhar's husband Deepak Kochhar.
The tribunal upheld the ED's claims that Chanda Kochhar had passed the loan in violation of the bank's internal rules and conflict of interest policy. She had not disclosed her husband Deepak Kochhar's business relationship with Videocon.
According to the investigation, as soon as ICICI Bank issued a loan of Rs 300 crore to Videocon, the very next day Rs 64 crore was transferred from Videocon's company SEPL to Deepak Kochhar's company NRPL. In the documents, the control of NRPL was shown with Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot, but its actual control and management was in the hands of Deepak Kochhar. The tribunal considered this direct transaction as irrefutable evidence of bribery.
In this important decision, the appellate tribunal also set aside the 2020 decision in which a lower authority had ordered the release of assets worth Rs 78 crore of Chanda Kochhar, her husband and other associates. The tribunal said that the lower authority had ignored crucial evidence produced by the ED and arrived at a wrong conclusion.
The tribunal stressed that the entire chain of events - sanctioning of the loan, transfer of money the very next day and flow of funds into Deepak Kochhar's company - clearly shows abuse of position and ethical violation by Chanda Kochhar.