ICICI Bank to probe allegations against CEO Chanda Kochhar

MUMBAI: The board of India’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank has ordered an independent probe into allegations of ‘conflict of interest’ and ‘quid pro quo’ in bank’s MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar’s dealing with certain borrowers.

There are allegations of involvement of Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon group on a quid pro quo basis.

It was alleged that Videocon Group pumped money into Nupower Renewables, a firm owned by Deepak Kochhar, husband of Chanda Kochhar.

Last week, market regulator Sebi had served a notice on Kochhar on dealings of the bank with Videocon Group and Nupower.

The enquiry was ordered by the board, at its meeting on Tuesday, on a complaint by an anonymous whistleblower against Kochhar, the bank said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

“...the enquiry to be headed by an independent and credible person (will) examine and enquire into an additional anonymous whistle-blower complaint...,” it said.

The scope of enquiry would be comprehensive and include all relevant matters arising out of and in the course of examination of the facts and wherever warranted, use of forensics/email reviews and records of statements of pertinent personnel, it said.

The enquiry, the bank said, will be conducted by an ‘independent and credible’ person.

The whistle-blower had alleged that the bank’s MD and CEO had not adhered to provisions relating to code of conduct of the bank and legal and regulatory provisions relating to conflict of interest over a period and also alleged quid pro quo in the course of Kochhar’s work in dealing with individual customers/borrowers of the bank.

Interestingly in April, the board had expressed full confidence in Kochhar and ruled out any quid pro quo as alleged concerning specific loan given to Videocon group.

The regulator filing, which came on Wednesday after the close of stock market, further said the enquiry would cover all “connected matters” in the course of investigations to bring the matter to a conclusion.

In keeping with the whistle-blower policy of the bank, its board mandated the audit committee to appoint an independent and credible person to head the enquiry and also define the terms of reference, including the timeline.