Aggarwal told the court that Kochhar’s reports indicate that he suffered from additional COVID related complications, including viral pneumonia. “Patients who have suffered from viral pneumonia with Covid-19 can also develop a secondary bacterial infection in the lungs and deep-vein thrombosis which causes blood clots in the body. Patients are at risk of facing ‘silent hypoxia’ i.e., sudden drop in blood-oxygen levels leading to emergency situations. ED should not take ‘sadistic’ pleasure and must have a human fact”. ED had filed money-laundering case in January 2019, after CBI booked the Kochhars, Dhoot and six others over alleged quid pro quo in loan transactions between ICICI Bank and Videocon. CBI had accused Chanda Kochhar of receiving a kickback through her husband from Videocon for sanctioning loans. The Kochhars, Dhoot and the other accused had denied the allegations.The investigation by ED has allegedly revealed that ICICI Bank disbursed a loan of Rs 300 crore (Rs 283.45 crore actual disbursed amount) to Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) on September 7, 2009 when Chanda was at the helm. On the very next day, Rs 64 crore was transferred out of the loan received by VIL group from ICICI was transferred to NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd (NRL) through Supreme Energy Private Ltd (SEPL). “The said amount of Rs 64 crore was not used by VIL for the intended purpose and was transferred to NRL,” the ED’s earlier remand application states. ED has termed Rs 64 crores as proceeds of crime and is treating it as ‘quid pro quo’ for the loan sanctioned to VIL group by ICICI when Chanda was heading it. The agency claims that the said money was used to purchase assets including wind farm projects of 33.15 MW capacity. While Kochhar has been director of NRL since its incorporation in December 2008, SEPL was acquired by Pinnacle Energy, a family trust of Kochhar and he is managing trustee of the same. The ED claims that an elaborate structure through a web of companies was created to hold the amount of Rs 64 crores. “Loan funds travelled from VIL to NRL through SEPL, two intermediary companies were brought in for the purpose of layering. The proceeds of crime of Rs 64 crore received from VIL were utilised by NRL for purchase of properties including wind farm projects,” the earlier remand application adds. “Investigation has revealed that accounting entities were made in the books of SEPL i.e creation of provisioning of Rs 32 lakhs ( for Rs 64 crore transferred by VIL in NRL through SEPL) and its reversal follows the pattern of events in ICICI Bank pertaining to allegation/ inquiry against Chanda Kochhar. This was all done on the instructions of Deepak,” it further adds.The Kochhars are being probed also by the income tax department and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Deepak Kochhar moves a plea for hospitalisation for post-Covid discharge care
Mumbai: Arrested businessman Deepak Kochhar who recently tested negative for Covid-19 moved an application before the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court here seeking two week hospitalisation for post Covid-19 treatment. Special PMLA judge, Milind Kurtadikar while adjourning the matter for Wednesday has asked the Taloja jail authority to submit a report on the plea made by Kochhar. Last week a special court remanded Kochhar to judicial custody. He is currently lodged at Navi Mumbai’s Taloja jail facility. The court had initially granted his custody to ED till September 19, after his arrest on September 7 in a money-laundering case where the co-accused including his wife and former ICICI Bank chief Chanda Kochhar and Videocon Group chairman Venugopal Dhoot. He tested positive for Covid-19 on September 14 and was admitted to a Delhi hospital. He was discharged from hospital on October 12 and the agency produced him before the special PMLA court seeking his further custody of five days. After the custody got exhausted, the court remanded him to judicial custody. Defence counsel, Vijay Aggarwal appearing for Kocchar argued, “.. applicant is still suffering from prolonged effect of Covid infection, has been advised rest for two weeks , and is under medication of various drugs. Going into the jail will not be safe for the health of the applicant and his life”. He also contended that, “the government has issued “post Covid management protocol”, which will be better provided at the hospital than in the jail. Appearing for the ED, advocate Amit Mahajan argued that Kochhar has made a similar plea before the Bombay High Court while seeking bail in the said matter. The application will be coming up for hearing later this month. “…Judicial custody is a custody, it’s not a picnic. Hospitalisation should be allowed only in the event of an emergency and cannot be self-certified. Also the jail authority needs to submit a report stating that the accused requires hospitalisation,” he argued while contesting the application. “Same prayers have been made by the accused before the HC while seeking bail. This is nothing but forum shopping,” he added.
