SC’s question to CBI on Kochhars bail, why did not you oppose the decision of the High Court?
The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned the CBI over not objecting to the repeated extension of the two-week interim bail granted in January this year to former ICICI Bank CEO-cum-MD Chanda Kochhar and her businessman husband Deepak Kochhar in the Videocon loan fraud case. A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi asked Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the CBI, as to why the probe agency did not resist repeated extension of interim bail granted to them by the Bombay High Court on January 9.
“This order is of January 9 and interim bail was granted for only two weeks. Why have you not resisted? Why are you permitting it to continue for such a long period? According to us, this plea has become infructuous because the impugned order was for only two weeks. You should have moved an objection there (High Court),” the bench said. Justice Trivedi asked Raju about the next date of hearing in the high court. The lawyer told the judge no fresh date has been announced yet. “You should have moved the high court,” Justice Trivedi said, following which Raju told him he will request his counterpart in Bombay to approach the high court.
The bench posted the CBI’s plea challenging the January 9 order of the High Court for October 16 and asked Raju to seek instruction on what needs to be done. The CBI arrested the Kochhars on December 23, 2022, in connection with the Videocon-ICICI Bank loan fraud case. Apart from the Kochhars, the CBI has also arrested Videocon group founder Venugopal Dhoot in the case.
Chanda Kochhar and her husband involved in Videocon loan fraud were first exposed by PGurus on March 25, 2018. The report exposed how Chanda Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar was taking bribes from companies to get loan from ICICI Bank can be read here.[1]
The ICICI Bank had sanctioned credit facilities to the tune of Rs.3,250 crore to the companies of the Videocon group in violation of the Banking Regulation Act, Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines, and the credit policy of the top private lender. Chanda Kochhar, who was ICICI Bank CEO and MD from 2009 to 2018, Deepak Kochhar, Dhoot along with a slew of firms – Nupower Renewables (NRL), Supreme Energy, Videocon International Electronics Ltd, and Videocon Industries – as accused in the FIR registered under Indian Penal Code sections related to criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA). Nupower Renewables is Deepak Kochhar’s headed company and bribe money was routed through this company.
The CBI and ED found that as part of quid pro quo, Videocon group founder Dhoot made an investment of Rs.64 crore in Nupower Renewables through Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL), and transferred SEPL to Pinnacle Energy Trust managed by Deepak Kochhar through a circuitous route between 2010 and 2012.
Reference:
[1] ICICI Bank head Chanda Kochhar and husband on the radar of probe agencies for doubtful loans to debt-ridden Videocon Group? – Mar 25, 2018, PGurus.com
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