Chanda Kochhar granted bail in ICICI-Videocon loan case

Mumbai: A court here on Friday granted bail to former ICICI Bank CEO and Managing Director Chanda Kochhar with a rider that she cannot leave the country with its permission.

Kochhar on Friday appeared before the Special PMLA court in connection with the ICICI-Videocon loan case here and applied for a bail through her lawyer Vijay Agarwal. The court granted her bail on a bond of Rs 5 lakh.

"There is no material with the ED against her. Technically speaking she cannot be accused in that case," Agarwal said. "Moreover she is a woman and has cooperated during investigation, so she is covered by the provision under section 45 of the PMLA," he added. The case pertains to alleged irregularities in sanctioning six loans worth Rs 1,875 crore to Videocon Industries Ltd, Videocon International Electronics Ltd and four other companies associated with the Videocon group between June 2009 and October 2011.

Chanda was on the sanctioning committee deciding two loans - Rs 300 crore to Videocon International Electronics on August 26, 2009 and Rs 750 crore to Videocon Industries Limited on October 31, 2011.

The loans were issued in the alleged violation of the laid-down policy and regulations of the bank. The term loan of Rs 300 crore sanctioned to VIEL was disbursed on September 7, 2009. The next day, Dhoot transferred Rs 64 crore to NuPower Renewables Ltd through Supreme Energy Private Ltd founded by him.

The ED had arrested her husband Deepak Kochhar in September last year. In November last year, the ED filed its first chargesheet in the ICICI-Videocon loan case, naming Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar, Videocon group chief Venugopal Dhoot and seven firms in a money laundering case. According to ED, the financial probe agency has also named Videocon International Electronic Limited (VIEL), Videocon Industries Ltd, NuPower Renewables Ltd and Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd, among others.