Growing up looking at the Forbes and Fortune list, every career-oriented woman and business-oriented individual saw Chanda Kochhar as a role model. Her 30-year-old career in the banking industry was quite an inspiration and the lady bagged several business awards and accolades in her career, even India’s third-highest civilian award Padma Bhushan. However, never did we know that a woman of such a high caliber, reputation, and honor will fall down so disgracefully and bring shame to her own name, fame, and character.
Here we share the timeline of the Videocon Cash for Loan Scam featuring Chanda Kochhar during her tenure at ICICI bank as an MD and CEO
2009 – 2011 – A debt-ridden Videocon gets a loan of Rs. 300 crores from the sanctioning committee of ICICI bank headed by Kochhar, against the policies of the bank and regulations of the RBI.
According to the allegations by CBI, Venugopal Dhoot, MD of Videocon Group, transferred Rs 64 crore to NuPower Renewable Private Limited managed by Chanda Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar the very next day of the loan disbursal.
Between June 2009 and October 2011, 6 loans worth Rs. 1875 crore were sanctioned by Kochhar to Videcon and associated companies against the regulations and policies of ICICI bank.
April 2012 – By 2012, Videocon gets a loan of Rs. 3250+ crores from ICICI bank, and Deepak Kochhar’s company gets around 10% of the loan of nearly Rs. 325 crores.
This was the same year these loans were declared NPA (Non-performing asset) which caused ICICI a loss of Rs. 1730.
2016 – 4 years after the scam, Arvind Gupta, a whistleblower brought the scam to light in his 8-page complaint which he sent to several regulatory bodies including ED, SEBI, RBI, CBI, SFIO, and even to PM Narendra Modi’s office. RBI investigates but doesn’t find anything.
March 2018 – The case again comes in limelight. CBI files an internal inquiry and questions Deepak Kochhar.
April 2018 – The ICICI Bank denies any cheating or misconduct by Kochhar. Next, SFIO – Serious Fraud Investigation asks permission from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to investigate the loan.
May 2018 – SEBI serves notice to Chanda Kochhar, Videocon, and NuPower. ICICI Bank takes a U-turn on its initial stand.
October 2018 – Kochhar retires voluntarily.
January 2019 – 3 years after the whistleblower exposes the scam, the CBI investigation begins in full swing. The same month ICICI sacks Kochhar.
An FIR is also filed in 2019 by CBI.
February 2019 – A money laundering case is filed.
September 2020 – Deepak Kochhar gets arrested by ED in a money laundering case.
November 2020 – ED files chargesheet against Chanda Kochhar
March 2021 – 6 months later he got bail.
May 2022 – CBI files an FIR against the Kochhar couple.
December 2022 – Both, Chanda Kochhar and Deepak Kochhar get arrested under various IPC sections.
Meanwhile, there’s another story of a south Mumbai flat under CBI’s investigation where Chanda Kochhar
Meanwhile, there’s another story of a south Mumbai flat under CBI’s investigation where Chanda Kochhar stayed during the time of her loan disbursal. It was under litigation between Deepak Kochhar and Videocon group. In the year 2016, the flat (of Rs. 5.25 crore value) was transferred to Deepak Kochhar’s family trust for a meager amount of Rs 11 lakh.
The Chanda Kochhar and Videocon Cash for Loan Scam get all the more intense as more and more things are coming in front of the public glare. Looks like not all role models are role models after all.
What do you think?
Featured Image Source: World Economic Forum from Cologny, Switzerland, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Also, Read List of Financial Fraud Allegations on Adani Group!
