Videocon loan case: ED attaches assets worth Rs 78 cr belonging to former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar, family

The Enforcement Directorate reportedly attached the properties belonging to former former ICICI Bank managing director and chief executive officer Chanda Kochhar and her family, said a news report.

Enforcement Directorate has attached properties of former MD & CEO of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar and her family. Total assets worth Rs. 78 crore (book value) have been attached. This includes her flat in Mumbai and some properties of the company of his husband. pic.twitter.com/Hbxtu0CHhr

— ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2020

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) provisionally attached assets worth Rs 78 crore (book value) belonging to Kochhar and family in connection with the the Videocon loan case. The attached assets included her flat in Mumbai and some properties of the company of her husband Deepak Kochhar, reported ANI. [caption id=“attachment_6647791” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Chanda Kochhar, former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar. Reuters.[/caption] Earlier, there were reports that more troubles were on the cards for Kochhar and husband, Deepak as the ED was planning to provisionally attach the assets and properties belonging to the duo in connection with the Videocon loan case. The assets under the watch of the ED included Kochar’s luxury apartment in South Mumbai, shares and investments besides the offices of Deepak’s companies including Nupower Renewables, said a report in Business Standard. Though the value of the assets in the ED list is estimated at around Rs 100 crore, the market value of these assets may go past around Rs 800 crore. The ED is expected to issue the provisional attachment order of proceeds of the crime under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the report said. In May last year, the ED had widened its probe into a total of 24 loans aggregating Rs 7,862 crore that ICICI Bank-led consortium issued to Videocon Group when Chanda Kochhar was managing director and chief executive officer of the bank. ED had registered a criminal case under the PMLA early last year against Chanda, Deepak, Videocon promoter Venugopal Dhoot and others to probe alleged irregularities and corrupt practices in sanctioning Rs 1,875-crore loans by ICICI Bank to Videocon. The action was based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The ED had in April last year summoned Kochhar and Deepak besides her brother-in-law Rajiv Kochhar in connection with the Videocon money laundering case. The ED believed that the loans were issued “illegally and criminally” to Videocon Group. The loans were allegedly sanctioned by ICICI Bank to Videocon Group companies between May 2009 and June 2017. In October 2018, facing enquiry over charges of nepotism and conflict of interest, Kochhar quit the bank , six months before her tenure was to end. Kochhar also resigned from all subsidiaries of the bank including ICICI Securities where she had sought reappointment as the chairperson. Kochhar’s five-year tenure as CEO was to end on 31 March, 2019. In December last year, Kochhar had moved the Bombay High Court against her ex-employer for terminating from the job after ICICI Bank accepted her request for early retirement last year. — With inputs from agencies