[ICICI-Videocon PMLA Case] Deepak Kocchar Moves Bombay HC Against ED's Prosecution Proceedings

Deepak Kocchar has moved the Bombay High Court seeking to quash ED’s prosecution proceedings against him in the Videocon-PMLA money laundering case. 

In his plea filed through Advocate Dadhichi Mhaispurkar, Kocchar submitted that ED has suppressed the facts and filed an impugned charge sheet against him. 

"The very same properties which are alleged as 'proceeds of crime 'in the prosecution complaint did not amount to proceeds of crime and thus were not involved in money laundering", Mr Kocchar states in his petition.

Therefore, the ED proceedings against him stand vitiated since the concerned property is no longer a subject matter in the money laundering dispute, he asserts.

Mr Kochhar relied on a parallel CBI investigation in the case and contended that even the premier investigating authority did not find merit in the case to proceed against him.

Deepak Kochhar contended in his petition that once a statutory authority constituted under the PMLA records a finding that the property is not involved in money laundering and there are no proceeds of crime, it essentially leads to complete vitiating of proceedings under the act.

ED had initiated an investigation after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against the Kochhars and Dhoot among others in January last year. The Kochhar duo is accused of receiving illegal gratification from Videocon for sanctioning the loans.

It has been alleged that Deepak Kochhar's firm, NuPower Renewables, illegally received an investment of Rs 64 crore from Videocon Group and Rs 325 crore from Matix Fertilisers in 2010 soon after they were granted loans by ICICI Bank. The investigating agencies claim that Chanda Kochhar abused her official position and played a key role in dishonest sanction of these loans.