An appellate tribunal has upheld a 2020 Enforcement Directorate (ED) order attaching a Mumbai flat owned by former ICICI Financial institution CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar and her husband. The tribunal discovered a “prima facie” case of cash laundering towards the couple in a corruption case involving the Videocon Group.
The tribunal’s order dated July 3 acknowledged that there was substance within the ED’s allegation of a “quid professional quo” association. The ED claimed that after ICICI Financial institution sanctioned a Rs 300 crore mortgage to Videocon Worldwide Electronics Ltd (VIEL), the Videocon Group transferred Rs 64 crore to NRPL, an organization owned by Deepak Kochhar, Chanda Kochhar’s husband.
The mortgage was accredited between June 2009 and October 2011 by a sanctioning committee of ICICI Financial institution, of which Chanda Kochhar was a member, along with her position as MD and CEO. The ED case, based mostly on a CBI FIR, alleged that Chanda Kochhar conspired to cheat ICICI Financial institution by abusing her official place whereas sanctioning the mortgage.
In keeping with probe businesses, Chanda Kochhar obtained unlawful gratification or undue profit by means of her husband from the Videocon Group promoter V N Dhoot or VIL. In January 2020, the ED provisionally connected Kochhar’s flat no 45 in CCI Chambers, Churchgate, Mumbai, a property of NRPL, together with Rs 10.5 lakh in money seized throughout searches on one other firm owned by Deepak Kochhar.
The Adjudicating Authority beneath the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act (PMLA) had refused to verify the ED attachment in November 2020. The ED then appealed to the appellate tribunal, which discovered the provisional attachment order justified, stating there was a prima facie case of cash laundering.
The tribunal famous the shut interlinking of companies floated by Deepak Kochhar and the Videocon Group. It rejected Chanda Kochhar’s declare of ignorance relating to her husband’s enterprise affairs, stating she was anticipated to behave in accordance with the financial institution’s guidelines and insurance policies and couldn’t plead ignorance.
The tribunal stated the sanction of the Rs 300 crore mortgage to the Videocon Group, during which Chanda Kochhar was concerned, was towards ICICI Financial institution’s guidelines and insurance policies. It held that the flat was bought utilizing the Rs 64 crore diverted funds and was rightly connected as proceeds of crime.
The tribunal discovered no illegality within the ED’s order and criticised the Adjudicating Authority’s findings. It additionally dismissed Chanda Kochhar’s argument that the mortgage sanction was a committee determination and that there was no hyperlink between the mortgage and the Rs 64 crore switch.
The tribunal concluded that the ED had established a whole chain of occasions displaying cash laundering linked to the predicate offence investigated by the CBI. It confirmed the provisional attachment order dated January 10, 2020, for the properties aside from the Rs 10.5 lakh in money.
