Chanda Kochhar Granted Bail In Alleged Money Laundering Case

Former MD and CEO of ICICI Chanda Kochhar gets bail in alleged money laundering case. A special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court delivered the judgment Friday. Kochhar's bail comes on a bond of Rs 5 lakh with the court asking her not to leave the country without its permission. 

Upon a CBI inquiry from 2017, a criminal case had been filed last year against Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak and Venugopal Dhoot in connection to allegations of money laundering involving ICICI Bank and Videocon. Deepak Kochhar was arrested in September 2020 by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection to the same. 

Chanda Kochhar Gets Bail: A Look Into The Case 

In January this year, the PMLA court had issued summons to the Kochhars and Dhoot after the ED's chargesheet in the case, as per Livemint. In response to the summons, Chanda Kochhar had filed a bail plea, which has now been granted by the court. 

The court had observed, "...It appears that Chanda Kochhar had misused her official position in granting loan to accused Dhoot and/or Videocon group companies... And (it appears) she got illegal gratification/undue advantage through her husband... through various companies for siphoning off money..." 

Chanda Kochhar gets bail on Rs 5 lakh bond 

The ED has alleged that from a loan of Rs 300 crore sanctioned by an ICICI Bank committee, then under Kochhar, Rs 64 crore was transferred to a Videocon enterprise owned by her husband Deepak in 2009. In the thick of allegations in 2018, Kochhar had stepped down from her position as CEO.