The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) against Deepak Kochhar, husband of ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, chairman of Videocon group Venugopal Dhoot and others of the banks, to verify whether any wrongdoing was involved in the sanctioning of a Rs 3,250 crore loan to the Videocon Group by the ICICI Bank ltd as part of a consortium of banks in 2012. Overall,
Videocon raised Rs 40,000 crore as loan from consortium of banks.
The CBI has collected documents related to the Rs 40,000-crore loan as well as documents related to Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot setting up NRPl. “The PE was registered about six weeks back. The PE also names bank officials of public sector banks,” said the CBI official.
CBI sources said that Chanda Kochhar, against whom conflict of interest questions have been raised, has not been named in the PE as of now. A PE is a precursor before the agency lodges an FIR to probe criminal charges on the basis of evidence collected during the former exercise. As part of the procedure, the CBI collects material to determine if there is prima facie criminality requiring the registration of an FIR. If investigators conclude that there is not enough basis to register a regular case, the PE is closed after approval from the CBI director.
The agency can file a PE on the basis of a complaint, on the directions of central/state governments/courts and also on its “source information report (SIR)”. There is no time frame to finish a probe registered as a PE.
According to CBI, Deepak Kochhar will soon be called for questioning, while a few ICICIIJbank officials were questioned. CBI officials said they are also studying relevant documents of the transaction and if they come across any evidence that indicates wrongdoing, ICICI bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar along with others could be summoned for detailed questioning.
“The statements of nodal officers of the ICICI, who were part of processing the loan of about Rs 3,250 crore, have been recorded as part of the PE registered six weeks back,” said officials.
The said amount was part of a loan of Rs 40,000 crores which Videocon received from a consortium of 20 banks led by State Bank of India (SBI).
Earlier this week, the ICICI Bank board came out in support of Chanda Kochhar, saying it has full faith and confidence in her and described certain reports against her regarding credit disbursement to Videocon group as “malicious and unfounded rumours”.
The board had also reviewed the banks internal processes for credit approval and found them robust, the private sector lender had said in a statement.