PMLA Case: Kochhars, Venugopal Dhoot Told to Appear in Court on February 12

A special PMLA court in Mumbai on Saturday issued summons to former ICICI Bank managing director Chanda Kochhar and other accused after taking cognizance of the charge sheet filed against them by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case and asked them to appear before court on February 12. The ED filed its first charge sheet against Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar, and Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot on money laundering charges in November.

Special PMLA Judge AA Nandgoankar took cognisance of the complaint filed by ED on Saturday and directed all the accused to remain present before it on February 12. The ED had filed a money laundering case against the Kochhars, Dhoot and others for "illegal sanctioning of loans amounting to Rs 1,875 crore to the Videocon Group of companies".

The ED had arrested Deepak Kochhar in September after it filed a criminal case of money laundering based on an FIR registered by the CBI against the Kochhars, Dhoot and others. The ED has alleged that an amount of Rs 64 crore, out of the loan amount of Rs 300 crore sanctioned by a committee headed by Chanda Kochhar to Videocon International Electronics Limited, was transferred to Nupower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRPL) by Videocon Industries Limited on September 8, 2009, a day after disbursement of loan by ICICI Bank.

NRPL was earlier known as Nupower Renewables Limited (NRL) and is Deepak Kochhar's company, as per the ED, which has also claimed that "net revenue of Rs 10.65 crore was generated by NRL from these tainted funds". Therefore, as per the ED, proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 74.65 crore were transferred to or generated in NRPL.

These are part of the first charge sheet filed by the agency in this case. The CBI had booked Chanda Kochhar on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating and abuse of official position for "dishonestly sanctioning loans to the Videocon Group".

As per CBI's FIR, she received "illegal gratification through her husband from Videocon MD VN Dhoot for sanctioning a term loan of Rs 300 crore to Videocon International Electronics Ltd."

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