NEW DELHI: Businessman Deepak Kochhar and spouse of previous ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate for supposed tax evasion in an arrangement between the bank and Videocon Group. He had been questioned since early afternoon today before he was arrested around evening time.
The probe agency had recorded a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) early a year ago against Ms Kochhar, her significant other and Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon Group to explore asserted anomalies and degenerate practices in endorsing ₹ 1,875 crore in advances by ICICI Bank.
The Enforcement Directorate is also testing in any event two different examples of credits given by ICICI Bank during Ms Kochhar’s residency to Gujarat-based pharmaceutical firm Sterling Biotech and to Bhushan Steel Group; both these are additionally being examined on alleged money laundering charges.
The Enforcement Directorate’s case depends on a complaint enrolled by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is running an independent investigation; it also had named each of the three people and included three organizations, including two under the Videocon name, claimed by Mr Dhoot’s organizations.
NuPower Renewables, an organization constrained by Deepak Kochhar, had additionally been named.
The CBI has affirmed that Mr Dhoot put resources into NuPower through another organization – Supreme Energy – in a remuneration bargain by means of advances cleared by ICICI after Ms Kochhar took over as CEO in May 2009.
In preliminary examinations the CBI found six credits worth ₹ 1,875 crore were authorized between June 2009 and October 2011, in supposed infringement of built up policies. These advances were proclaimed non-performing resources in 2012, causing loss of ₹ 1,730 crore to the bank, the CBI further asserted.
In January this year, ICICI Bank recorded a request in the Bombay High Court looking for recuperation of bonuses given to Ms Kochhar. Ms Kochhar had tested the “end” of her work by the nation’s second-biggest private bank a year ago, which had obstructed her compensation over charges of giving “out-of-turn” loans.