ED finds Deepak Kochhar manipulated company books: Report

The charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate in the ICICI Bank-Videocon case revealed that Deepak Kochhar tweaked his company's books in 2016, after ICICI launched an internal investigation on Chanda Kochhar, to show that Rs 64 crore received from Videocon Group was a genuine business transaction, and that he intended to return the money, Hindustan Times reported.

The probe agency had submitted the charge sheet on November 3.

ED had slapped money laundering charges against the Kochhars and their business entities for "illegal sanctioning of loans amounting to Rs 1,875 crore to the Videocon Group of companies".

From a Rs 300 crore loan sanctioned by a committee headed by Chanda Kochhar to Videocon International Electronics Ltd, Videocon Industries Ltd transferred Rs 64 crore to NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRPL) on September 8, 2009, only a day after the disbursement of the loan by ICICI Bank, the ED had alleged.

The ED files assessed by HT stated that "accounting entries in the books of Supreme Energy Pvt Ltd (SEPL) were made to give an appearance of genuineness to the transaction."

ED believed that SEPL was also controlled by Deepak Kochhar and was used to transfer the money.

"A provision of Rs 32 lakh against redemption premium was created in the balance sheet of FY2016-17," ED mentioned in the charge sheet.
However, it said, "Had it been a genuine transaction between SEPL and VIL, the provisioning would have been done in 2009 itself. But provisioning was created the first time in FY2016-17 by SEPL."

Deepak Kochhar had filed a bail plea claiming the prosecution had failed to file a charge sheet in the case within the stipulated period. The plea was, last week, rejected by a special court in Mumbai.

(With agency inputs)