An appellate tribunal has upheld a 2020 Enforcement Directorate (ED) order attaching a Mumbai flat owned by former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband. The tribunal found a “prima facie” case of money laundering against the couple in a corruption case involving the Videocon Group.
The tribunal’s order dated July 3 stated that there was substance in the ED’s allegation of a “quid pro quo” arrangement. The ED claimed that after ICICI Bank sanctioned a Rs 300 crore loan to Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL), the Videocon Group transferred Rs 64 crore to NRPL, a company owned by Deepak Kochhar, Chanda Kochhar’s husband.
The loan was approved between June 2009 and October 2011 by a sanctioning committee of ICICI Bank, of which Chanda Kochhar was a member, in addition to her role as MD and CEO. The ED case, based on a CBI FIR, alleged that Chanda Kochhar conspired to cheat ICICI Bank by abusing her official position while sanctioning the loan.
According to probe agencies, Chanda Kochhar received illegal gratification or undue benefit through her husband from the Videocon Group promoter V N Dhoot or VIL. In January 2020, the ED provisionally attached Kochhar’s flat no 45 in CCI Chambers, Churchgate, Mumbai, a property of NRPL, along with Rs 10.5 lakh in cash seized during searches on another company owned by Deepak Kochhar.
The Adjudicating Authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) had refused to confirm the ED attachment in November 2020. The ED then appealed to the appellate tribunal, which found the provisional attachment order justified, stating there was a prima facie case of money laundering.
The tribunal noted the close interlinking of businesses floated by Deepak Kochhar and the Videocon Group. It rejected Chanda Kochhar’s claim of ignorance regarding her husband’s business affairs, stating she was expected to act according to the bank’s rules and policies and could not plead ignorance.
The tribunal said the sanction of the Rs 300 crore loan to the Videocon Group, in which Chanda Kochhar was involved, was against ICICI Bank’s rules and policies. It held that the flat was purchased using the Rs 64 crore diverted funds and was rightly attached as proceeds of crime.
The tribunal found no illegality in the ED’s order and criticised the Adjudicating Authority’s findings. It also dismissed Chanda Kochhar’s argument that the loan sanction was a committee decision and that there was no link between the loan and the Rs 64 crore transfer.
The tribunal concluded that the ED had established a complete chain of events showing money laundering linked to the predicate offence investigated by the CBI. It confirmed the provisional attachment order dated January 10, 2020, for the properties except for the Rs 10.5 lakh in cash.
