Enough material to proceed against Kochhars: PMLA court

A special PMLA court here hasheld that the material submitted by the EnforcementDirectorate is sufficient to proceed with a trial for moneylaundering against former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochharand others.

On January 30, the special court for Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act had summoned Kochhar, her husband DeepakKochhar, Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot and otheraccused after taking cognizance of the ED's charge sheet.

In the order that was made available on Wednesday,judge A A Nandgoankar said, ''After going through thesubmissions, written complaints and statements recorded underPMLA, it appears that Chanda Kochhar had misused her officialposition in granting loan to accused Dhoot and/or Videocongroup companies.

''And (it appears) she got illegal gratification/undueadvantage through her husband... through various companies forsiphoning off money and proceeds of crime,'' the judge said.

The material produced by the ED constitutes thecommission of offence, and it is ''sufficient to proceedagainst the accused persons,'' the court said.

All the accused have been asked to appear before thecourt on February 12.

The ED arrested Deepak Kochhar in September 2020 afterit filed a criminal case for money laundering based on an FIRregistered by the CBI against the Kochhars, Dhoot and others.

The ED alleged that Rs 64 crore out of a loan amountof Rs 300 crore sanctioned by a committee of ICICI Bank headedby Chanda Kochhar to Videocon International ElectronicsLimited was transferred to Nupower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRPL)by Videocon Industries on September 8, 2009, a day after thedisbursement of loan.

NRPL was earlier known as Nupower Renewables Limited(NRL) and is owned by Deepak Kochhar, the ED said. PTI AVIKRKKRK KRK