ED assures SC of no coercive action against Chanda Kochhar in PMLA case

PTI, Nov 20, 2020, 3:41 PM IST

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Friday assured the Supreme Court that it would not take any coercive action against former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar in a money laundering case.

A bench headed by Justice SK Kaul was informed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the agency would not take any coercive step in pursuance of the ECIR registered in ICICI Bank-Videocon Group loan case.

The bench, also comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Hrishikesh Roy, said it would hear later the two other petitions filed by Chanda Kochhar challenging the arrest of her husband Deepak Kochhar in the case.

The ED has recently filed a charge sheet against Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot on money laundering charges.

Kochhar’s, Dhoot and others have denied the allegations, official sources had said earlier.

They had said the charge sheet or the prosecution complaint has been filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) before a special court in Mumbai.

The central probe agency had arrested Deepak Kochhar in September after it filed a criminal case of money laundering after studying an FIR registered by the CBI against the Kochhars, Dhoot and others.

It has slapped money laundering charges against the Kochhars and their business entities for “illegal sanctioning of loans amounting to Rs 1,875 crore to the Videocon Group of companies.”