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Journalism of Courage
ICICI Bank on Friday said it had received complaints about 31 loan accounts from an anonymous whistle-blower, on which an inquiry was made and interim report was submitted to the regulator Reserve Bank of India.
The aggregate loan — in the 31 cases — outstandings at March 31, 2018 were Rs 6,082 crore, which is about 1.1 per cent of gross loans. “Further actions in this matter are being/ will be taken as directed by the Audit Committee,” the bank said in a stock exchange filing.
The bank said the loans outstanding were fully classified as non-performing, with provisions made as per applicable norms.
Earlier this week, ICICI Bank’s CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar, who is facing an independent inquiry in connections with loan given to Videocon Group, has decided go on leave till the completion of the inquiry.
The bank said the complaint was treated as a whistle blower complaint and an inquiry was instituted as per the Whistle Blower Policy of the Bank under the supervision of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, without involvement of the senior management other than Internal Audit.
The interim report of the inquiry was reviewed in detail by the Audit Committee and statutory auditors, prior to finalisation of the accounts for the year ended March 31, 2018. “The findings in the interim report had no material impact on the financial statements for FY2018. The interim report has also been submitted to the regulator,” it said.
These accounts were classified as non-performing between the year ended March 31, 2012 and the year ended March 31, 2017, other than two accounts which were classified by December 31, 2017.
“Thus, all these loans had been classified as non- performing prior to the Bank becoming aware of the complaint,” the bank said.
Kochhar is facing allegations of quid pro quo and conflict of interest while giving loans to certain borrowers including the Videocon group which in turn funded NuPower Renewables, an entity in which Deepak Kochhar, spouse of the bank’s MD and CEO has economic interest.
On March 29, The Indian Express first reported that Videocon group promoter Venugopal Dhoot provided crores of rupees to NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRPL), a firm he had set up with Deepak Kochhar and two relatives six months after the Videocon group got Rs 3,250 crore as loan from ICICI Bank in 2012. He transferred proprietorship of the company to a trust owned by Deepak Kochhar for Rs 9 lakh, six months after he received the loan from ICICI Bank. The Videocon account was declared an NPA or a bad loan in 2017.
