In what raises questions of propriety and conflict of interest, the transfer of the company to Deepak Kochchar happened six months after the Videocon Group got a loan of Rs 3,250 crore from ICICI Bank.
An investigation by The Indian Express has found a web of transactions between Venugopal Dhoot of the Videocon Group and Deepak Kochhar, husband of ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar. According to the investigation, in December 2008, Dhoot set up a company with Deepak, then gave a Rs 64-crore loan to this new company through a fully owned entity before he transferred the latter’s ownership to a trust headed by Deepak Kochhar for just Rs 9 lakh. In what raises questions of propriety and conflict of interest, the transfer of the company to Deepak happened six months after the Videocon Group got a loan of Rs 3,250 crore from ICICI Bank. Almost 86 per cent of that loan (Rs 2,810 crore) remains unpaid and Videocon account was declared an NPA in 2017.
