[ad_1]
A special court, while considering the charge sheet filed in the Videocon-ICICI Bank loan case, said that it was evidently proven that the former Managing Director of ICICI Bank and CEO Chanda Kochar received part of the loan given by the bank to the Videocon Group as a “reward” from During the companies founded by her husband and co-accused Deepak.
The Special Court on Wednesday issued summons to the accused including Kochar, Deepak, Venugopal Dutt of Videocon Group and six others to appear before it on August 2.
Special Judge Naik Nimbalkar said in the matter that from the documentary and oral evidence given by CBI, it is quite clear that there is sufficient material to substantiate the allegations against the accused.
“…it can be safely inferred that, prima facie, there are reasons to believe that the accusation is justified. The role and complicity of each accused is detailed and identified and evidenced. The allegation of concealment of facts, wrongdoing while sanctioning loans, diversion of loan amount, and misuse of Funds by not using it for the purpose for which it was sanctioned, obtaining part of the loan as motive/reward by the public servant through the companies founded by her husband, concealing the interest in offering the loan, thus violating the circulars issued by the Reserve Bank of India in this The connection, as well as the unlawful gratuities received by the public servant, are evident at first sight.”
The court also considered other evidence, including details of the companies involved and loans made by the bank. It said the evidence included circulars from the Reserve Bank of India relating to loans including disclosures to be made if the bank manager had any interests in the loan proposals. The court said a letter dated May 28, 2019, provided by the CBI, showed Kochar had not disclosed her relationship with VIL.
The court also said that the charge sheet contained details about the transfer of funds in various accounts linked to Videocon Industries Limited and NuPower Renewables Limited which are linked to Deepak, and accordingly the roles of all the accused in the transactions were clarified. At this point, she said, there was a prima facie case filed by the CBI over sections under the Indian Penal Code, including criminal conspiracy, fraud against all the accused and criminal breach of trust by a public servant against Chanda Kochar.
The court also considered the request made by CBI’s lawyer, A Limosin, that since the alleged crime took place between 2008-2017, the Prevention of Corruption Act would apply before amendments were made to it in 2018.
The CBI had filed a charge sheet in the case in April alleging that after she was appointed as a managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank from 2009 to 2011, ICICI Bank sanctioned six loans to companies linked to the Videocon Group. The CBI alleged that these loans had irregularities and that Rs 64 crore was received during this time by a company linked to Deepak. ICICI Bank, while awarding sanction for Kochhar’s prosecution, said that it did not cause wrongful loss but cited the Rs 64 crore amount received by Deepak as the basis for the sanction.
[ad_2]
