Rajiv Kochhar grilled by CBI for third day
The Central Bureau of Investigation questioned Avista Advisory founder Rajiv Kochhar for the third consecutive day on Saturday. Rajiv Kochhar, brother-in-law of ICICI Bank MD & CEO Chanda Kochhar, appeared at the CBI’s office at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, where he was asked about the role of his company in the restructuring of the loan ICICI Bank extended to the Videocon group.
The questioning of Rajiv Kochhar, ICICI Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Chanda Kochhar’s brother-in-law, by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) started on the third consecutive day on Saturday in connection with the banks ~32.5-billion loan to Videocon Group in 2012, officials said.
Kochhar, the founder of Singapore-based Avista Advisory, appeared at the agency’s office in the BandraKurla Complex in Mumbai on Saturday, where he was asked about the role of his company in the restructuring of the loan, they said.
He was asked about the help he extended to Videocon in relation to the loan from ICICI Bank, which was part of a ~400-billion credit given by a consortium of 20 banks to the group of Venugopal Dhoot.
On CBI’s request, he was detained at the Mumbai airport on Thursday, when he was trying to board a flight for a Southeast Asian country, officials 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 Kochhar, Chanda Kochhar’s husband.
The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry against Videocon Founder Venugopal Dhoot, Deepak Kochhar, and unidentified others, according to officials.
A preliminary inquiry is the first step by the CBI to gather information about the allegations. If the agency is convinced that there exists prima facie material in the matter, it might register a regular case against the accused.