ED to review loans sanctioned during Chanda Kochhar’s tenure

In light of similarities observed in suspect credit transactions into the account of Nupower Renewables Private Limited, owned by Deepak Kochhar, the Enforcement Directorate has decided to expand the scope of its investigation and examine other large loans sanctioned by the ICICI bank during the time that Mr. Kochhar’s wife, Chanda, was at the lender’s helm.

In January, the CBI had registered an offence against the Kochhars as well as Videocon Group Managing Director Venugopal Dhoot in connection with alleged irregularities over loans sanctioned by ICICI bank to the Videocon Group. Based on the CBI’s FIR, the ED, too, initiated its own investigations into the financial aspects of the case under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). In an exhaustive search last week, the ED seized a large number of documents pertaining to the financial transactions of the bank during Ms. Kochhar’s tenure, sources said.

“We have noticed certain similarities in the timeline pertaining to the transactions between the Videocon Group, Nupower Renewables Pvt. Ltd. and Firstland Holdings Pvt. Ltd., owned by Nishant Kanodia, whose father-in-law Ravi Ruia also availed a loan from the ICICI Bank for one of the companies under his Essar Group,” said an ED official familiar with the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, Ms. Kochhar was questioned by the ED for the fourth straight day on Monday, while Mr. Kanodia was quizzed for the second consecutive day. Both were grilled separately at the ED office in Ballard Estate. #casansaar (Source - The Hindu)