Former ICICI CEO Chanda Kochhar granted bail, told to not leave country without permission

New Delhi: Chanda Kochhar, former MD and CEO of ICICI Bank was granted bail on Friday, on a bond of Rs 5 lakh by PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court in ICICI Bank-Videocon loan case.

The special PMLA court granted bail to Kochhar on a bond of Rs 5 lakh and asked her not to leave the country without the permission of the court.

Videocon’s Venugopal Dhoot did not appear before the court today and it was brought to the notice of the court that summons was not served to him properly as per rules. The ED sleuths informed the court that fresh summons will be served to Venugopal.

The ED had arrested Deepak Kochhar in September 2020 after filing of a criminal case for alleged money laundering charges, based on an FIR registered by the CBI against the Kochhars, Dhoot and others.

Former MD & CEO of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar arrives at Mumbai Sessions Court after she was summoned in ICICI Bank-Videocon loan case pic.twitter.com/WLppECkBtI

— ANI (@ANI) February 12, 2021

The ED has alleged that Rs 64 crore, out of a loan amount of Rs 300 crore sanctioned by a committee of ICICI Bank headed by Chanda Kochhar to Videocon International Electronics Limited, was transferred to Nupower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRPL) by Videocon Industries on September 8, 2009, a day after the disbursement of loan.

The ED conducted raids at locations linked to them in March 2020.

It had also grilled Chanda Kochhar’s brother-in-law Rajiv Kochhar. Dhoot was also questioned in connection with the case.

The CBI had in 2019 registered an FIR in the ICICI-Videocon loan case involving Kochhars.