MUMBAI: Two months after the
CBI submitted a chargesheet against
Chanda Kochhar, former CEO of
ICICI Bank, in a Rs 3,250-crore loan fraud case, the prosecution informed the special court on Wednesday that sanction for her prosecution had been received from the competent authority.
Chanda has been regarded as a public servant as she was the CEO of ICICI Bank. Sanction for her prosecution was sought from the bank’s board.
While the board had held that no loss was caused to the bank, there was quid pro quo.
The prosecution requested the document to be attached along with the chargesheet, which is currently under scrutiny before the court registry. Once the verification is completed, the document will be sent to the court for cognisance.
In the chargesheet submitted against the former banker, her husband
Deepak Kochhar and Videocon group founder VN Dhoot, the CBI has also named the latter’s nephew Saurabh Dhoot and a chartered accountant, Dattatraya Kadam, as accused. The chargesheet cited 78 witnesses.
It is alleged that Kadam had prepared a false certificate claiming that the loan amount was utilised for the purpose for which it was disbursed. The certificate was allegedly submitted by Saurabh on behalf of his uncle to ICICI Bank. The CBI has also alleged that the loan had been used for evergreening of old loans instead of payments to suppliers. It was alleged that the total loss to the bank has been pegged at Rs 1,033 crore.
The CBI also alleged that Chanda was on the committee relating to at least two loans.
The CBI had alleged that Chanda received Rs 64-crore kickback in Deepak’s company, Nupower Renewables Pvt Ltd, from Videocon group in lieu of loans. It is alleged that the Rs 300-crore loan was disbursed to a firm of the Videocon group and within 48 hours of disbursement, Rs 64 crore transferred to Nupower Renewables.