ICICI Bank-Videocon loan case: The CBI had filed a chargesheet against Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar and Venugopal Dhoot

Private lender ICICI Bank on Saturday called a loan of over Rs 1,000 crore that the Videocon Group failed to repay it as a “business loan” and not a “wrongful loss”, as stated in the recent CBI chargesheet in its corruption case against the former ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon founder Venugopal Dhoot.

The CBI had filed a chargesheet spanning over 10,000 pages recently before a special CBI court. Last month, a special CBI court took cognisance of the chargesheet and will now hear the arguments on framing of charges.

The CBI named former CEO of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar, former Videocon Group Venugopal Dhoot and six entities as accused in the case. The accused in the case have so far denied any wrongdoing.

Commenting on the allegations in the chargesheet, the bank said in a statement accessed by The Economic Times that it followed due processes while granting the loans to Videocon Group while claiming the central agency’s allegations of wrongful loss and violation of rules are not “factually correct”.

ICICI Bank legal head Nilanjan Saha said Videocon Group could not repay this loan due to business failure. ICICI Bank considers it was a business loss and not a wrongful loss caused by Videocon to ICICI Bank on account of the said loan, Saha was quoted as saying by the publication.

"The credit facilities sanctioned by ICICI Bank to Videocon Group turned into NPAs in June 2017, with an outstanding amount of Rs 1,033 crore.Thereby, ICICI Bank had to suffer loss of Rs 1,033 crore plus interest thereupon," the CBI charge sheet said.

The CBI further claimed in its chargesheet that after Chanda Kochhar became the managing director and CEO of the private lender, six Rupee Term Loans were sanctioned to the Videocon Group from May 1, 2009.

From June 2009 to October 2011, ICICI Bank sanctioned Rupee Term Loans worth total Rs 1,875 crore to the group. Kochhar was also the chairperson of the two-member Committee of Directors which sanctioned Rupee Term Loans of Rs 300 crore in August 2009 to Videocon International Electronics Limited.

The chargesheet further mentioned that Chanda Kochhar was a member of the committee of senior managers, i.e., recommending committee, and the credit committee, i.e., the sanctioning committee, for sanctioning Rupee Term Loans worth Rs 750 crore to Videocon Industries in October 2011.

It also mentioned that the former ICICI Bank boss was a member of the committees which sanctioned various loan limits to Videocon Group even after 2012.