Chanda Kochhar Found Guilty
An appellate tribunal has held former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar guilty of accepting a Rs 64 crore bribe in connection with the sanctioning of a Rs 300 crore loan to the Videocon Group.
An appellate tribunal has held former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar guilty of accepting a Rs 64 crore bribe in connection with the sanctioning of a Rs 300 crore loan to the Videocon Group, according to media reports.
In a detailed order dated July 3, an appellate tribunal ruled that former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar received a Rs 64 crore bribe through a “quid pro quo" arrangement involving her husband Deepak Kochhar and a company linked to the Videocon Group.
The tribunal backed the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) case, stating that Kochhar failed to disclose a clear conflict of interest while sanctioning a Rs 300 crore loan to Videocon. It noted that the payment was routed from Videocon’s SEPL to NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRPL), controlled by Deepak Kochhar, just a day after the loan was disbursed by ICICI Bank.
Although NRPL was officially owned by Videocon Chairman Venugopal Dhoot, actual control rested with Deepak Kochhar, who also served as its managing director, the tribunal observed. It said the money trail, supported by statements under Section 50 of the PMLA Act, provided direct evidence of a quid pro quo.
The tribunal also criticised the November 2020 decision by the adjudicating authority to release Rs 78 crore worth of attached assets belonging to Kochhar and her associates, calling it a flawed order that overlooked key evidence.
Concluding that the loan, its timing, and the subsequent fund transfers demonstrated a misuse of authority and violation of ICICI Bank’s internal policies, the tribunal upheld the ED’s attachment of assets as justified and supported by strong documentary proof.
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