ED attaches assets worth Rs 78 crore belonging to ex-ICICI Bank Chairman Chanda Kochhar, family

The Enforcement Directorate has attached properties having market value is about Rs 600 crore (book value Rs 78 crore), including her Rs 3.5 crore flat in Mumbai, of former Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar and her family in connection with a money laundering case against them.

A provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has been issued for attachment of properties, the agency said on Friday.

While the book value of these assets is Rs 78.15 crore, the market value is about Rs 600 crore, officials said.

The attached properties include flat, land, and plant and machinery of a windfarm project based in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a statement said these assets are "in possession" of Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar and the companies owned and controlled by him.

The ED order will be valid within 180 days of the attachment being issued until a court confirms it and allows it to make a final confiscation on the basis that properties were made out of the proceeds of money laundering.

The money laundering charges were filed against the Kochhars and their business entities in January last year for "illegal sanctioning of loans amounting to Rs 1,875 crore to the Videocon Group of companies."

The ED case was filed on the basis of a CBI FIR against the Kochhars.

The agency repeatedly questioned the Kochhars and also conducted raids as part of the probe. 

According to a PTI report, the ED Probe found that a committee headed by Chanda Kochhar sanctioned a loan of Rs 300 crore to Videocon International Electronics Limited, out of which an amount of Rs 64 crore was transferred to Nupower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRPL) on September 8, 2009, just a day after disbursement of loan by ICICI Bank. 

NRPL, earlier known as NuPower Renewables Limited (NRL), was owned by Deepak Kochhar.

The ED alleged that "net revenue of Rs 10.65 crore was generated by NRL from these tainted funds."

"Therefore, proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 74.65 crore were transferred to or to say generated in NRPL," the ED said.

The investigation agency has claimed that Chanda Kochhar and her family "acquired" an apartment at Mumbai (in which they live) owned by one of the Videocon Group companies by way of "acquiring that company through her family trust at a nominal price and by creating book entries."