ICICI Bank-Videocon money laundering case: Kocchars move HC claiming illegal arrest by CBI

Former ICICI bank CEO-MD Chanda Kocchar and her husband Deepak Kocchar approached the Bombay High Court on Tuesday claiming illegal arrest by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The couple was arrested on Friday in a loan case concerning ICICI bank and Videocon and sought an urgent hearing on their plea and an interim release, which the HC refused.

The CBI has alleged that six loans were sanctioned to Videocon group’s firms after Chanda took the helm of the bank as the CEO-MD. She was on the loan sanctioning committee for two of these loans, totalling 1,050 crores. After one of these loans of Rs. 300 crores was sanctioned in 2009, the next day, Videocon’s Chairman Venugopal Dhoot transferred Rs. 64 crores to a company managed by Chanda’s husband. This is one of the instances of quid pro quo the agency has alleged. The couple and Dhoot, who was arrested on Monday, are all in the CBI’s custody. The fraud is said to have caused a loss of Rs. 1,730 crores.

The couple claimed in their plea before the HC that prior mandatory sanctions under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) were not obtained before their arrest. It was also contended that their arrest was illegal as no notice was issued to them to appear before the agency as is required when the punishment for the offences is above seven years. They sought that the HC quash the remand order of the special court.

To the plea of their lawyer seeking an urgent hearing, a vacation bench of Justice Madhav J Jamdar and Justice S G Chapalgaonkar said there was no urgency and that they can approach the regular court on January 2.