Bombay HC grants bail to ex-ICICI CEO Chanda Kochhar, husband in loan fraud case

Bombay High Court on January 9 granted bail to former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in the Videocon loan fraud case. The court has ordered their release in the plea challenging their arrest and claiming it was an illegal arrest. "Arrest not in accordance with the law," the Court observed. The court also asked Kochhars to surrender their passports to the CBI.

While Chanda Kochhar has been lodged at Byculla district jail (women's jail), Deepak Kochhar has been lodged at Arthur Road jail.

The CBI had booked Chanda Kochhar, her husband and Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon Group, along with 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 the Prevention of Corruption Act.

In a quid-pro-quo deal, the CBI alleged, Videocon promoter Venugopal Dhoot allegedly invested crores of rupees in Nupower months after the Videocon Group got Rs 3,250 crore as loan from ICICI Bank in 2012, the CBI had said in a statement after filing of the FIR in 2019. This amounted to criminal conspiracy and cheating, the probe agency said.

In May 2018, ICICI Bank initiated an inquiry against Kochhar. The former CEO went on leave thereafter and later applied for early retirement, which was accepted. The bank then said it had treated her separation as "Termination for Cause" and had also sought approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for Kochchar's termination of appointment as is mandatory under the provisions of the RBI Act.

On November 10, the Bombay High Court said the termination of Chanda Kochhar from the post of CEO of ICICI Bank was prima facie "valid termination" and dismissed her interim application seeking post-retirement benefits.

A single bench of Justice RI Chagla also directed Kochhar to not deal with the bank's 6.90 lakh shares she had acquired in 2018. She was also told to disclose in an affidavit all dealings with respect to the shares within six weeks.

In its chargesheet filed in January, 2019, the CBI had said that ICICI Bank, under Kochhar, sanctioned loans to Videocon in violation of the credit policies of the bank. These loans later turned Non-performing assets (NPAs) resulting in wrongful loss to the bank and wrongful gain to the borrowers and accused persons.

The CBI also sought probes into the role of the senior officers of the sanctioning committee which had cleared the loans to Videocon. Further, the investigative agency highlighted that the credit limit for the Videocon group companies was approved after Kochhar took over charge as top executive of the bank in May, 2009.

The ICICI Bank-Videocon case is one of the most high-profile scams witnessed by Indian banking industry. This marked the downfall of Chanda Kochhar, who started as a junior officer in the bank , and later rose through the ranks to head the company.

Investigators found that between June, 2009 to October, 2011, the ICICI Bank sanctioned six high value loans to Videocon group companies. The agency accused Chanda Kochhar for cheating the bank by abusing her official position as the CEO by sanctioning these loans. Later, the probe revealed that this was part of a quid-pro-quo deal between Kochhars and Videocon's Dhoot.