The agency has also named companies Nupower Renewables, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd and Videocon Industries limited as accused in the FIR registered under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of prevention of corruption act.
The regulator will now call Chanda and ICICI Bank's representatives for a personal hearing as part of adjudication proceedings launched against them.
The CBI later clarified that Rajiv Kochhar was only called for questioning and has not been apprehended yet.
It is alleged that during the tenure of Chanda Kochhar, six loans worth Rs 1,875 crore were cleared for the Videocon Group and its associated companies, in which in two cases she herself was on the sanctioning committees.
Chanda Kochhar, who was arrested for a cash-for-loan scam on Friday, was once a powerful banker and instrumental in making ICICI Bank the country's biggest private sector lender. Kochhar, a regular feature on Forbes top global honchos lists, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) along with her husband Deepak Kochhar in connection with alleged cheating and irregularities in loans sanctioned by ICICI Bank to Videocon Group companies. Kochhars were called to the agency headquarters and arrested after a brief questioning session. Her chapter at ICICI Bank ended abruptly in 2018 when the board of directors approved a request from Kochhar to seek early retirement following allegation of corruption and quid pro-quo while extending loans to the now bankrupt Videocon Industries.
Lenders to Venugopal Dhoot-founded Videocon Group will eventually take 50-55 per cent haircut and not 95 per cent as is being reported after considering about Rs 15,000 crore expected from the sale of the group's overseas oil and gas assets, its former CFO Rajneesh Gupta claimed. Videocon Industries Ltd, which is comprised of its consumer electronics business and interest in the Ravva oil and gas field, and its overseas oil and gas assets, mainly comprising of oil blocks in Brazil, are being auctioned separately to recover unpaid loans. While Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Group has picked up Videocon Industries for Rs 2,962 crore, the bids for overseas assets are yet to be decided.
After getting rapped for accepting Vedanta group's bid that would give just 5 per cent of their outstanding loans, lenders to Videocon Industries on Monday approached the insolvency appellate tribunal NCLAT seeking fresh bids for the debt-laden consumer durable firm. Billionaire Anil Agarwal's Twin-Star Technologies had offered Rs 2,962 crore to takeover Videocon Industries, which was 4.15 per cent of the admitted claims of Rs 64,838.63 crore of lenders. SBI, the leading lender of Videocon Industries, has approached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) requesting for a rebidding of the 13 companies of the debt-ridden group, on account of strong observations against Rs 2,962 crore takeover bid by Anil Agarwal's Twin Star Technologies.
The notice, under provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, has been issued by the Mumbai office of the agency after its probe found that the group has 'contravened' the law as it failed to comply with Reserve Bank of India norms by not declaring funds generated by some wholly owned subsidiaries the group had raised overseas few years back, according to ED sources.
Videocon group promoter Venugopal Dhoot on Friday appeared before a court in Mumbai in the alleged ICICI Bank-Videocon money laundering case, and was granted bail.
The agency is also preparing to analyse the details of assets of the Kochhars and others so that they can be provisionally attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act
The bank board had decided to launch an enquiry to be headed by an "independent and credible person", to examine and enquire into an anonymous whistle blower complaint alleging that the bank MD & CEO had not adhered to code of conduct
There are allegations of involvement of Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon group on a quid pro quo basis.
Chanda Kochhar, the high-profile ex-banker had on November 30 moved the Bombay high court challenging "termination" of her employment by ICICI Bank which also denied her remuneration and clawed back all the bonuses and stock options between April 2009 and March 2018 for her alleged role in granting out of turn loans worth Rs 3,250 crore to the Videocon Group which benefitted her husband Deepak Kochhar. A division Bench of justices Ranjit More and SP Tavade allowed her to implead RBI and directed the apex bank to file its reply by December 16.
The central bank filed an affidavit in response to a petition filed by Kochhar last month, challenging her ouster as the chief executive and managing director of ICICI Bank months after she voluntarily left the private sector lender. The bank, while terminating her employment, also denied her remuneration and rescinded the bonuses and stock options given to her from April 2009 to March 2018. She was accused of playing a role in grant of out-of-turn loans of Rs 3,250 crore to Videocon Group, which allegedly benefited her husband, Deepak Kochhar.
The ED is of the opinion that the authority stepped into the shoes of the trial court and commented on the preliminary investigation done by the CBI in the impugned order.
The report concluded that she failed to discharge her fiduciary functions to rescue herself to avoid any conflict of interest.
Justifying the transfer, the CBI pinned the blame on Mishra for keeping the preliminary enquiry pending without any reasons, they said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is looking into the funding and transactions of Datacom Services (now Videocon Mobile), which was among the firms awarded a 2G telecom licence in January 2008.
The Videocon Group on Friday announced its foray into the solar energy sector through an equal joint venture with the Belgium-based global renewable energy developer Enfinity and has set an aggressive target of generating 2,000mw in a couple of years.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has directed to freeze and attach assets and properties of Videocon promoters following a petition by the ministry of corporate affairs. The NCLT Mumbai bench has directed the Central Depository Services Ltd (CDSL) and National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) that securities owned or held by the Videocon promoters "in any company or society be frozen, and be prohibited from being transferred or alienation" and the details be shared with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA). It directed the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to disclose information about all assets of the Videocon promoters in their knowledge or possession, for the purpose of freezing and restraining such assets.
The brand new bankruptcy process is being brazenly gamed by those with connections and money. The touts and fixers of the previous regime have been replaced by a new set close to this one, observes Debashis Basu.
How Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar find themselves in a huge controversy.
In a communiqu to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Rs 700-crore company said the Registrar of Companies, Maharashtra, approved the name change.
Videocon group has signed an agreement with West Bengal government to set up a steel plant and a power project in the state with total investment of about Rs 15,000 crore.Videocon, which already has interests in oil and gas, plans to establish a three million tonne steel plant and a 1,200 MW thermal power project in Asansol-Durgapur area in Burdwan district.
The Videocon group will directly acquire land from the farmers with the West Bengal government assistance for its special economic zones in the state.
The Bombay high court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by Chanda Kochhar against her termination as the managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank A division bench of Justices N M Jamdar and M S Karnik accepted the bank's contention that Kochhar's petition was not maintainable as the dispute was contractual and concerns a private body.
Ranjan was nominated to the board of ICICI Bank on April 7
Videocon Group on Thursday signed an agreement with AB Electrolux to acquire the Swedish company's entire 91.85 per cent stake in Electrolux Kelvinator Ltd. As per the deal, AB Electrolux will get about 5 per cent stake in Videocon Industries Ltd.
'The web of transactions is so complex that it requires expertise to understand the strategies involved in each fraud.'
Kochhar brothers stepped down from the board of Credential Finance by 2009. While Deepak Kochhar started NuPower Renewables, Rajiv set up Avista Advisory Group
In the first of a two-part series, Tamal Bandyopadhyay explains why the ICICI Bank's board first rushed to deny all allegations against Kochhar and then took the extreme steps against her.
The FIR also said chairman of New Development Bank K V Kamath, Goldman Sachs India chairman Sonjoy Chatterjee, Standard Chartered Bank CEO Zarin Daruwala, Tata Capital head Rajiv Sabharwal and Tata Capital senior advisor Homi Khusrokhan need to be investigated.
Kochhar is required to assist the investigating officer of the case in taking the probe forward and her statement will be recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Moreover, all her existing and future entitlements such as any unpaid amounts, unpaid bonuses or increments, unvested and vested and unexercised stock options, and medical benefits will be revoked.
Kochhar retires by rotation, and being eligible, has offered herself for reappointment as director, said the broking arm in a notice for its Annual General Meeting to be held on August 30
The regulator in its notice alleged violations of the code of conduct because Chanda Kochhar reportedly had not disclosed the conflict of interest arising out of business dealings among ICICI Bank, Videocon and NuPower Renewables, led by her husband, Deepak Kochhar.