Videocon Founder Venugopal Dhoot Arrested in ICICI Bank Loan Fraud Case

MUMBAI:
Former Chief of the Videocon group Venugopal Dhoot was arrested by the CBI on Monday morning in Mumbai, in connection with irregularities in a loan disbursement – to the tune of over Rs 3000 crore – by ICICI bank to the group between 2009 and 2011.

The arrest comes close to the arrests of former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in the same case being probed by the CBI. Dhoot will be produced before a special CBI court.

The loan was sanctioned to the Videocon Group at the time when Chanda Kochhar was the chief of ICICI bank. The loan, which was moved to the non-performing asset category, allegedly caused losses to the tune of over Rs 1750 crores to ICICI bank, the CBI has alleged.

Kochhar and her husband were arrested by the CBI last week, on Friday in connection with the case and were taken to Mumbai from Delhi by the CBI on an early morning flight on Saturday, where they were produced before a special CBI court.

The Kochhar couple was arrested by the CBI for “non-cooperation” with the agency during a questioning session on Friday, for which the duo was summoned to Delhi. Consistent incoherence in their deposition and non-cooperation prompted the agency to take them into custody on Friday, sources in the CBI said. The couple were remanded in CBI custody till Monday.

Seeking their remand to probe the matter further the CBI submitted before the court that the loan extended to the Videocon Group during Kochhar’s tenure had caused loss to the tune of Rs 1,730 crore to ICICI bank.

The agency alleged that when Chanda Kochhar took charge of ICICI bank, six loans were sanctioned to various companies of Videocon out of which at least two loans were sanctioned by committees where Chanda Kochhar was a member. In other instances, she influenced committees also to sanction loans to Videocon group, CBI said.

The CBI also alleged that in 2009, Rs 64 crore loan was given by the Videocon group to Nupower, which is Deepak Kochhar’s firm. The agency also informed the court that it is also probing the transaction by which a flat in Mumbai, valued around Rs 5.25 crore in 1996, was transferred to the family trust of Kochhar’s in 2016 at a throwaway price way less than a crore.

According to the case registered in Mumbai by the CBI Kochhar had allegedly favoured Videocon Group a multi-business entity, known for its electronic products, by allowing “deviations” in the bank’s lending policies.

She was charged with criminal conspiracy and cheating by the agency for alleged irregularities in a loan extended to the Videocon Group in 2012 that turned into a non-performing asset for the ICICI Bank. The transaction however benefitted the Kochhars the CBI had alleged.

The ICICI in 2019, declared that it will classify Kochhar’s departure as “termination for cause” because she had broken the bank’s code of conduct and internal standards.

The case was out of the news for a while but recently came under the spotlight following the questioning of Venugopal Dhoot, the ex-chief of the Videocon group, in November by the Directorate of Enforcement. Dhoot was quizzed by the agency in connection with the loan extended to the group by ICICI during Kochhar’s tenure. The ED is investigating the money laundering angle in connection with the matter.