Friday, March 29, 2024

No-nonsense judge to probe charge against Chanda Kochhar

Friday, June 15, 2018, 1:24
This news item was posted in Business category and has 0 Comments so far.

Mumbai: Former Supreme Court judge BN Srikrishna will conduct an investigation into various allegations of impropriety against ICICI Bank chief executive Chanda Kochhar. The bank had said it would be instituting an inquiry into the accusations at the end of May.“The board felt he would be the best person to conduct this inquiry. He has accepted the request,” said a person with direct knowledge of the development. “Justice Srikrishna is an independent and credible name, who has a good understanding of the financial markets.”Srikrishna will investigate whether Kochhar violated the bank’s code of conduct and was involved in quid pro quo transactions with certain bank borrowers.

64594974

The former judge was chairman of the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) and is currently heading a committee of experts deliberating on a data protection framework for the country.Srikrishna, 77, had also headed the commission that investigated the communal riots that took place in Mumbai in 1992-93. After retiring from the Supreme Court, he has been working as an independent arbitrator. Srikrishna declined to comment. ICICI Bank didn’t respond to queries.The board has not specified any time frame for concluding the inquiry, sources said. Earlier, the board led by MK Sharma had rejected allegations of impropriety against Kochhar. “The scope of the inquiry would be comprehensive and include all relevant matter arising out of and in the course of examination of the facts and wherever warranted, use of forensic/email reviews and recordal of statements of relevant personnel, etc,” ICICI Bank had said in its May 30 stock exchange filing.“The inquiry would also cover all connected matters in the course of the investigation to bring the matter to a final close.”Chanda Kochhar was on the bank’s credit committee that sanctioned a loan of Rs 3,250 crore to the Videocon Group in 2012. Videocon’s promoter Venugopal Dhoot was one of the first investors in NuPower Renewables promoted by Deepak Kochhar, Chanda Kochhar’s husband, in 2008.

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply