Money laundering case: ED may soon file chargesheet against Chanda Kochhar & her husband

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is likely to soon file its first chargesheet in a case of alleged money laundering involving former ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar and her businessman husband Deepak.The agency had registered the case in February, days after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked the Kochhars and Videocon Group managing director Venugopal Dhoot over alleged quid pro quo in loan transactions between ICICI Bank and the conglomerate when Kochhar was the bank’s chief executive.The CBI had accused her of allegedly receiving "illegal gratification" through her husband from Videocon for sanctioning a term loan of Rs 300 crore. The ED probed how they allegedly laundered the proceeds.The ED will shortly file a detailed prosecution complaint — equivalent to a chargesheet — against the Kochhars, said people aware of the matter. It will elaborate on how the accused used the "proceeds of crime," along with the role played by each, they said.The CBI’s investigation into criminal conspiracy, cheating and other charges against the accused are ongoing. In January, the ED had provisionally attached assets worth an estimated Rs 78.15 crore, including an apartment, land, factory and cash belonging to the Kochhars and companies controlled by Deepak Kochhar under the PMLA.77383927According to the agency, Rs 64 crore out of a loan of Rs 300 crore sanctioned by a committee headed by Chanda Kochhar to Videocon International Electronics was transferred by the company to NuPower Renewables, owned by her husband, just a day after the bank disbursed the money in September 2009.NuPower Renewables generated net revenue of Rs 10.65 crore utilising the "tainted funds", it had said, putting the total proceeds from the alleged transaction at Rs 74.65 crore. The ED had also claimed that the Kochhar family acquired an apartment in Mumbai from the Videocon Group at a price much below the market rate. The total value of assets thus acquired, which it termed as "proceeds of crime", was Rs 78.15 crore, the ED had said.

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