The Enforcement Directorate raided the residence and office of Videocon promoters Venugopal and Rajkumar Dhoot in Mumbai.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday raided the residence and office of Videocon promoters Venugopal and Rajkumar Dhoot in Mumbai in connection with the ICICI-Videocon case.
Earlier in March, a special court had granted bail to Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot in a case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) related to alleged money laundering involving his company and ICICI Bank.
Special Judge, Prevention of Money Laundering Act Cases, AA Nandgaonkar granted conditional bail on a bond of Rs 5 lakh to Dhoot, who has been ordered to surrender his passport to the ED, not to travel abroad without the special court’s permission and to investigate. Agency to appear before it, as and when required.
Arguing for bail, Dhoot’s lawyer Sandeep Ladda argued that his client was unwell, he was cooperating fully with the probe agency and he had no plans to leave the country till the cases against him were pending.
Dhoot also claimed that neither he nor his family has benefited from the alleged offenses against which he has been accused, all his property/properties have been mortgaged with banks and they have been held in India. or have no assets abroad, directly or indirectly.
He further said that while there was no loss to any of his debtors, he himself was a victim and sustained losses due to cancellation of 21 telecom licenses.
Dhoot said he had to sell off his other profitable businesses to clear the dues and the amount was directly credited to the debtors.
On January 30, the special court had issued summons to former ICICI Bank CEO and Managing Director Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar after taking cognizance of the ED’s chargesheet.
While Chanda Kochhar appeared before the court and was later granted bail, her husband is in judicial custody since his arrest by the ED in September 2020.
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Following a complaint lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the ED had registered an FIR against Kochhar and Dhoot alleging money laundering and other charges.
The ED argued that out of Rs 300 crore loan amount sanctioned to Videocon International Electronics Ltd (VIEL) by a committee of ICICI Bank, an amount of Rs 64 crore was transferred by VIEL to Deepak Kochhar’s NuPower Renewables. Private Limited on September 8, 2009, just one day after the disbursement of loan.
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