The Enforcement Directorate of India questioned Chanda Kochhar, the former CEO of ICICI Bank, and her husband. The duo submitted documents related to their personal finances along with investments made in different companies. The papers also contained information about their movable and immovable properties. They even presented disclosures made before RBI, SEBI and other regulatory bodies. An official, who knew about the matter, brought it to the forefront.
Chanda Kochhar sought support from a Delhi-based Advocate Vijay Aggarwal. This solicitor is Nirav Modi’s lawyer too. Aggarwal successfully defended many of the people accused in the 2G scam in the past. ED officials were questioning the couple at the ED office on Monday. On that very day, the Kochhars moved the appellate tribunal of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act or PMLA. They sought the release of documents related to two different companies. These companies, the Quality Techno Advisors Pvt. Ltd. and Pacific Capital Services Pvt. Ltd. shared a link with Deepak Kochhar. ED officers seized the documents on the 1st of March. Arguments By Vijay Aggarwal Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, the solicitor of the Kochhars, placed a couple of arguments. Firstly, the names of the companies were not on the FIR. Apart from that, the seizure of hard disks, laptops, electronic records is hampering the daily tasks of those business firms. An ED officer who knew about the developments informed that the agency seized Rs. 10 lakh in cash from the Kochhars. The duo wants the money back, but Aggarwal denied commenting to this statement. The ED officer mentioned earlier requested news officials not to disclose the individual’s identity. The officer informed that they asked Kochhar about the loans that the ICICI Bank gave to a few business agencies. These companies include the Videocon group, Bhushan Steel Pvt. Ltd. Sterling Biotech Ltd. and Jaypee Group. ICICI Bank granted loans to these business companies when Chanda Kochhar was at the help of the financial institution. Now, the Central Agency is attempting to decipher whether Deepak Kochhar’s company NuPower Renewables received money from companies. There are possibilities of such an event, particularly when ICICI Bank disbursed loans to the latter. The ED officer mentioned above said that they are scrutinizing the investments, documents, and bank account details. They are searching for any links that they might share with the information collected independently by different investigative sources. It is possible that ED will summon the couple for further questioning on Monday. ED also questioned Chanda Kochhar’s brother-in-law Rajiv Kochhar last month. This probing of ED began from an FIR filed at the Central Bureau of Investigation. It linked Chanda Kochhar, her husband, and Videocon Group’s MD, Venugopal Dhoot and deemed them as accused. ED started investigating further on the loans when fresh complaints arrived. A whistleblower in Singapore was the source of information. Rajiv Kochhar is from Singapore, and hence the link. According to the allegations, the Videocon group received massive amounts as loans from ICICI when Chanda Kochhar was the CEO. The loans were in six installments, and they amount to a total of Rs 1,875 crores. The issuing of the same took place between June 2009 and October 2011. Another allegation stated in the CBI FIR that the Kochhars received a quid-pro-quo by transferring Dhoot’s amount invested in NuPower Renewables. It happened after Videocon received a loan of Rs 300 crores from ICICI Bank. Kochhar stepped down from her post at the ICICI Bank on the 4th of October. She defended herself by saying that the companies got the loans based on their merit. There aren’t any connections between them and her husband’s business. CBI issued a lookout circular of LoC earlier this year to ensure that the Kochhars and Dhoot can’t leave India.
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