In the latest development in -Videocon’s 2019 case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has claimed that credit facilities sanctioned by the bank to the Videocon group turned into non-performing assets (NPAs) of more than 1,000 crore. The anti-money laundering agency said it in the charge sheet filed against the ICICI Bank’s former CEO Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar, and Videocon founder Venugopal Dhoot on Saturday.

‘CBI’s 10,000-PAGE CHARGESHEET’In a 10,000 pages-long chargesheet, the CBI further claimed that when Chanda Kochhar became MD & CEO of ICICI Bank, from May 1, 2009, six `Rupee Term Loans’ (RTLs) were sanctioned to Videocon Group. Between June 2009 to October 2011, RTLs of a total of 1,875 crore were sanctioned under Kochhar’s supervision to Videocon Group, the charge sheet said. Kochhar was chairperson of the two-member Committee of Directors which sanctioned RTL of 300 crore in August 2009 to Videocon International Electronics Limited (VIEL). Further, she was a member of the committee of senior managers (recommending committee) as well as the credit committee (sanctioning committee) for sanctioning RTL of 750 crore to Limited (VIL) in October 2011, the CBI charge sheet said. She was a member of the committees which sanctioned various loan limits to Videocon Group even after 2012, it added. The chargesheet alleged that Dhoot, the Kochhars, and others “engineered a plan and design in December 2008, after the announcement of the appointment of Chanda Kochhar as MD and CEO of ICICI Bank”, to get sanctioned loans to the Videocon Group. Chanda Kochhar lived in a flat owned by Videocon Group in Mumbai. Later, the flat was transferred to her family trust (Deepak Kochhar being its managing trustee) for just 11 lakh in October 2016. The actual value of the flat was 5.25 crore, the CBI said. She accepted “illegal gratification” of 64 crore and also thereby misappropriated the bank’s funds for her own use, the charge sheet said. Deepak Kochhar conspired with others to get sanctioned credit facilities by ICICI Bank in favour of Videocon Group through his wife, to obtain illegal gratification of 64 crore in the garb of investments (in companies controlled by him) through a web of transactions, it said. The other accused named by the CBI are Nupower Renewables (NRL) managed by Deepak Kochhar, Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd, and Videocon Industries Limited. The First Information Report (FIR) in the case was registered in 2019 under the Indian Penal Code sections related to criminal conspiracy and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.BI’s VIDEOCON INDUSTRIES