MUMBAI: Rajiv Kochhar, the brother-in-law of ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, was detained by immigration authorities at the Mumbai airport when he was to leave for a Southeast Asian country and handed over to CBI sleuths, who questioned him in connection with the bank’s dealing with the Videocon Group.

. Kochhar was stopped from leaving the country at the Mumbai international airport by the authorities as the CBI had issued a Lookout Circular (LoC) against him, officials said. He was handed over to a CBI team which is questioning him in connection with the case, they said.
The CBI has already questioned a few ICICI Bank officials as part of a preliminary enquiry to find if any quid pro quo was involved in the bank issuing a Rs 3,250-crore loan to Videocon Group in 2012.

The deal recently made news after reports questioned the loan and linked it to a possible quid pro quo that Mr. Dhoot allegedly had with NuPower Renewables, a company founded by Mr. Deepak Kochchar.
Agency officials said they are also studying relevant documents of the transaction and if they come across any evidence that indicates wrongdoing, ICICI Bank managing director and chief executive officer Chanda Kochhar, her husband Deepak Kochhar along with others could be summoned for detailed questioning.

They said the statements of nodal officers of ICICI Bank, who were part of processing the loan of about Rs 3,250 crore, have been recorded as part of the preliminary enquiry or PE registered six weeks ago. The PE has named Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot, Deepak Kochhar and unidentified others, they said.

The deal recently made news after reports questioned the loan and linked it to a possible quid pro quo that Dhoot allegedly had with NuPower Renewables, a company founded by Deepak Kochchar.

With regard to loans to Videocon Group, it said the bank’s current exposure was part of a syndicated consortium arrangement. “ICICI Bank was not the lead bank for this consortium and the bank only sanctioned its share of facilities aggregating approximately Rs 3,250 crore which was less than 10 per cent of the total consortium facility in April 2012,” it added. The bank had clarified that none of the investors of NuPower Renewables were borrowers of ICICI Bank.
(With Agency Inputs).