ICICI Bank had in August 2009 sanctioned a ₹300-crore loan to M/s Videocon International Electronics Limited (VIEL) when the company had “no operating activity and no cash flow”, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said in its chargesheet.
The agency further said that the loan was granted against unconditional and irrevocable corporate guarantees from M/s Videocon Industries Limited (VIL) when the holding company itself was debt-ridden and under severe financial stress.
A special CBI court on Wednesday took cognisance of the chargesheet filed in March against Chanda Kochhar, former managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of ICICI Bank, her husband Deepak Kochhar, Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot and others, and issued notices to all the accused.
The CBI is investigating the irregularities in the grant of ₹1,875 crore in loans to six companies of Videocon Group when Kochhar was the at the helm of affairs at the private bank. The loan amount was later reduced to ₹1,730 crore after restructuring, and ₹1,033 crore was still outstanding when an FIR was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act in January 2019, the chargesheet said.
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Kochhar was on the loan committee of the bank when two loans – a rupee term loan (RTL) of ₹300 crore to VIEL and an RTL of ₹750 crore to VIL – were sanctioned, the chargesheet said, adding that in exchange for this, the Kochhars got a kickback of ₹64 crore and a flat in Churchgate at a throwaway price.
The agency said that VIEL had in August 2009 applied for ₹305.70 crore in loan. On August 26, the bank approved a loan of ₹300 crore and on request of Saurabh Dhoot, nephew of Venugopal Dhoot, ₹283.45 crore was disbursed on September 7, the CBI claimed.
However, the loan was approved, and the amount was disbursed at a time when “M/s VIEL had no operating activities and no cash flow”, the chargesheet said. It further said that the loan was sanctioned against exclusive charge over fixed and current assets of M/s Indian Refrigerator Company Limited, also a Videocon Group company, situated in State Industrial Promotion Corporation of Tamilnadu (SIPCOT), but the private bank did not bother to conduct a legal search of the property. Forty-five days were granted to VIEL to provide a no objection certificate for the mortgage from SIPCOT, but it was never submitted, the agency pointed out.
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“The loan was also sanctioned against unconditional and irrevocable corporate guarantees from M/s VIL, though as on September 30, 2008, M/s VIL had a total debt of ₹12,562 crore, contingent liabilities of ₹4,857 crore, external borrowings of ₹445 crore, and FCCB of ₹513 crore.
“The revenues of M/s VIL had fallen from ₹4,877 crore in the first half of 2008-09 financial year to ₹4,289 crore in the first half of the next fiscal year because of 40% year-on-year fall in revenue from crude oil and gas division,” the chargesheet said, adding, “Profit after tax had also fallen from ₹500 crore in the first half of 2008-09 financial year to ₹133 crore in the first half of the next fiscal year.”
Besides, the CBI said, the loan was purportedly sanctioned for a partial repayment of the loan taken by VIEL from its parent company, VIL, but the balance sheet of the latter did not show any such loan was extended to its subsidiary.
The chargesheet also said that a conspiracy to grant loans to Videocon Group companies was hatched by Venugopal Dhoot, Saurabh Dhoot, Chanda Kochhar and Deepak Kochhar in December 2008 soon after ICICI Bank announced that Chanda Kochhar would be its next MD and CEO.
