CBI Arrests Venugopal Dhoot In ICICI Bank-Videocon Loan Case; Know More

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is the premier enquiring agency of India, has claimed that Deepak Kochhar, husband of Chanda Kochhar, the ICICI Bank's former Cheif Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director, was allegedly helped by a co-accused in obtaining ownership of Nupower Renewables Ltd (NRL) and in receiving the money acquired illegally.

The revelations came after a special CBI court remanded the Kochhars on Saturday to CBI custody until Monday (December 26). The agency arrested the duo on Friday concerning their suspected involvement in the money laundering case of ICICI Bank-Videocon. Venugopal Dhoot, the Chairman and Managing Director (MD) of the Videocon Group, is a co-accused in the case.

Know About ICICI Bank-Videocon Case

NRL was embodied on December 24, 2008, with Deepak Kochhar, Venugopal Dhoot, and Saurabh Dhoot as its first directors. After one year, in 2009, Venugopal Dhoot and Saurabh Dhoot stepped down from their directorship. However, before the resignation, Venugopal Dhoot allocated 1997500 warrants to Deepak Kochhar at ₹ 10 per warrant, on an initial payment of Re 1 per warrant.

As reported by Business Standard, in the same year, the shares of NRL held by Pacific Capital Services Pvt. Ltd. (24999), a group of Venugopal Dhoot (24996) and Deepak Kochhar, were transferred to Supreme Energy Pvt. Ltd. (SEPL), which became a 95 per cent shareholder of NRL.

SEPL was embodied in 2008 with Venugopal Dhoot (9990 shares) and his associate Vasant Kakade (10 shares) as the first directors of the organisation. After one year, in 2009, Dhoot stepped down from his directorship and assigned control to Deepak Kochhar by transferring his shares to Pinnacle Energy Trust (PET), managed by the latter.

Understanding Money Laundering

As mentioned is Wikipedia, money laundering is the practice of transferring funds gained via illegal activities like gambling, drug trafficking, corruption, or embezzlement into a legitimate source to disguise its true origin. With different meanings, it is unlawful in numerous jurisdictions, and typically, it is a crucial element of organised crime.

In 2002, the Indian Parliament passed an act called the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 with three main objectives; which is to control and prevent money laundering, to seize and confiscate the property acquired from laundered money and to deal with any other issues connected with money laundering in the country.

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