ICICI Bank says loans to Videocon did not cause any ‘wrongful loss’

ICICI Bank reiterated to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that there was no “wrongful loss” for the bank while authorizing its sentence to prosecute managing director and former CEO Chanda Kochar, it said. Economic Times (ET).

ICICI Bank said in a call to the CBI that this is the conclusion of the bank’s board of directors in line with the opinion of a previous judge.

The bank added that this had nothing to do with “whether or not the alleged crime(s) were committed”.

In the charge sheet against Kochhar and her husband Deepak, CBI said that they along with the other accused, including businessman VN Dhoot, caused a loss of Rs 1,033 crore to ICICI Bank.

However, the bank stated in its memorandum to the CBI that at a meeting on April 22, the board discussed the need to reaffirm that it had not incurred any wrongful loss and that due process had been followed in sanctioning loans to Videocon companies.

“It was noted that Judge Dr. Arijit Pasayat (Ret.) has also held that the approval of the sanction to prosecute Chanda Kochhar, if granted by the Board of Directors, should specifically state the position of the Bank as stated while granting the approval under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act ‘, the connection reads. ICICI Bank sought Basayat’s opinion on the matter.

The bank stated that this refers to all six standalone loans to Videocon Group companies – Millennium Appliances India Ltd, Videocon International Electronics Ltd, Sky Appliances Ltd, Techno Electronics Ltd, Applicomp India Ltd and Videocon Industries Ltd – that are being investigated. by CBI.

Hence there was no issue of wrongful loss and violation or contravention of rules and policies. The bank confirmed that the bank’s position remains the same.

The bank further said that if the principal accepted a bribe to sanction the loan, but the loan was repaid with interest, the lender would not suffer any loss.

“The Board further noted that the question of whether the financial loss occurred due to the contested transactions is not the deciding factor while handling the case as to whether or not the alleged crime(s) were/have been committed,” the bank said.

Kochar’s lawyer, Amit Desai, earlier argued that the CBI had erred the facts in the case.

“When the bank specifically stated that there was no wrongful loss to the bank in any of these transactions, how could the CBI say it was a wrongful loss case,” Desai had argued during the remand hearings before the private CBI Court in December 2022.

The bank clearly stated factual errors in the CBI’s First Information Report (FIR), it said at the time.

“Contrary to what the CBI claims, the loans were sanctioned as per due process,” he said, adding that “therefore no RBI guidelines were violated.”