The CBI on Saturday questioned Rajiv Kochhar, brother-in-law of ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, and Mahesh Chandra Pugalia, a close aide of Videocon Group chief Venugopal Dhoot, in connection with a case relating to Rs 3,250 crore loan to the group, particularly Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot, in 2012.
Officials said that both of them were questioned at the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) Bandra office.
According to CBI officials, Pugalia was previously an employee of the Videocon Group and then used to offer consultancy services to it. He is also a Director in NuPower Renewables Private Limited, the company formed by ICICI CEO MD and CEO’s husband Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot in 2008.
Meanwhile, Rajiv Kochhar was questioned for the third consecutive day in connection with the case. On Thursday, he was stopped at the Mumbai airport by immigration authorities just as he was about to leave for Singapore. Later, he was handed over to a CBI team which brought him to its Bandra office for questioning as part of its preliminary probe.
According to the agency officials, Rajiv was asked about the role of his Singapore-based company Avista Advisory in the restructuring of loan. They said he was also asked about the help he extended to Videocon in securing the loan from the ICICI Bank, which was part of a Rs 40,000 crore credit given by a consortium of 20 banks, led by the State Bank of India, to the Videocon Group.
The agency had registered a preliminary inquiry against Deepak Kochhar, Videocon Group officials and others to determine any wrongdoing or otherwise in the sanction of loan to the Group by the ICICI Bank as part of the consortium of banks in 2012.
The allegations stem from a whistleblower’s blog that questions investments made by the Videocon Group’s founder Venugopal Dhoot in NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd, a company founded by Deepak Kochhar, the husband of ICICI Bank’s managing director and chief executive officer Chanda Kochhar.
Chanda Kochhar, who is facing questions of conflict of interest in the case, has not been named in the preliminary inquiry, which was registered after news reports raised questions about the Videocon Chairman giving loan of Rs 64 crore to a firm he had jointly promoted with Deepak Kochhar, six months after his group got the Rs 3,250 crore loan.
Sources said Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot could also be called in for questioning after examination of documents of the loan and statements.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)