Guwahati: The Bombay High Court on Monday authorized the release of release of former ICICI Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar who had been detained in connection with an alleged multi-million dollar money laundering scheme.
The duo was allowed to be freed from judicial custody on a cash bond of Rs. 1 lakh apiece after the court ruled that their arrest was “not in conformity with the law.”
The Central Bureau of Investigation, which had the couple jailed in December of last year, disagreed with their release.
The release was disputed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, which had detained the couple on December 23, 2022, in connection with the Videocon-ICICI loan scam case.
The case involves allegations of irregularities and improper behaviour in the approval of a loan for Rs 1,875 crore that the ICICI Bank disbursed to the Videocon Group between 2009 and 2011.
The CBI discovered during its initial investigation that between June 2009 and October 2011, six loans totaling Rs 1,875 crore were approved for the Videocon Group and businesses affiliated with it, allegedly in violation of ICICI Bank’s established norms.
The agency asserted that the bank suffered a loss of Rs 1,730 crore when the loans were classified as non-performing assets in 2012.