CBI seeks additional documents from ICICI Bank in Videocon loan default case

The CBI has sought more documents from ICICI Bank relating to Rs 1,875 crore loans given to Videocon Group during the tenure of its former CEO Chanda Kochhar which is under probe by the agency, officials said on Wednesday.

The officials refused to give any further details about the nature of documents as the agency is at a crucial stage of determining points on which it may call Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group MD Venugopal Dhoot, all named as suspects in the CBI FIR, for questioning.

The CBI has not issued notice to any of the accused in the FIR for questioning so far, they said.

The additional documents have also been sought from NuPower, Supreme Energy and Videocon Group, they said.

The agency is going through hundreds of pages of documents seized by it during searches, besides loan records, communication exchanges, meeting discussions, etc. related to the details before it will prepare a questionnaire for the accused, they said.

It has issued Look Out Circular against Kochhars and Dhoot to prevent them from leaving the country and keep a track of their movements, they said.

A look out notice is an intimation to immigration authorities at all the ports of exit to intimate the investigation agency in case the accused tries to leave the country.

The immigration authorities may also detain the person if requested by the agency.

It is alleged that during the tenure of Chanda Kochhar, six loans worth Rs 1,875 crore were cleared for the Videocon Group and its associated companies. In two of these cases, she herself was on the sanctioning committees.

In its FIR, the CBI has also named several top honchos of the banking industry, including the present CEO of ICICI Bank Sandeep Bakshi, alleging that they were also members of the sanctioning committees whose role needs investigation.

Chanda Kochhar was on the sanctioning committees deciding two loans -- Rs 300 crore to Videocon International Electronics on August 26, 2009 and Rs 750 crore to Videocon Industries Limited on October 31, 2011, the FIR has alleged.

The loans were issued in alleged violation of laid down policies and regulations of the bank, it alleged.

Most of these loans became non-performing assets over the course, causing a loss of Rs 1,730 crore to the bank, it alleged.