Videocon Group misused ₹60,000 crore in name of developing overseas oil and gas assets

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday told the special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court that Videocon Group had laundered around ₹60,000 crore it had obtained from a consortium of banks to develop its oil and gas assets in Mozambique, Brazil, Indonesia, Australia and East Timor. 

About the money laundering charges, the court asked the agency to approach the court concerned in Delhi since the ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) was registered there. ED has initiated the probe based on an FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on June 23, 2020, against then CMD of Videocon Group, Venugopal Dhoot, and some unknown officers of public sector and private banks, for allegedly causing the financial loss to the consortium led by State Bank of India.

The Bombay High  granted interim bail to Videocon group promoter Venugopal Dhoot who was arrested by the CBI last month in connection with a loan fraud case. Dhoot had approached the high court after a special CBI court rejected his plea on January 5. Between June 2009 and October 2011, as per the CBI, ICICI Bank had sanctioned rupee term loans (RTLs) of ₹1,875 crore to six companies of Videocon Group for the purpose of enabling them to repay the loans to M/s Videocon Industries Limited. These loans, as per the allegations, were sanctioned after Chanda Kochhar took over as the MD and CEO of the bank. She was on the sanctioning committee when two loans - RTL of ₹300 crore to M/s Videocon International Electronics Limited and RTL of ₹750 crore to M/S Videocon Industries Limited - were sanctioned.

The ED claimed that of the funds obtained through various credit facilities, Videocon Group had diverted around $196.75 million for unintended purposes. About $1,813 million was also routed to its overseas entities on the pretext of payment of refund of export advances and loans, it said. ED further said that Videocon Hydro Carbons Holding Limited (VHHL), the overseas firm of Videocon Group, had availed $1,256 million from Standard Charted Bank (SCB), London, till December 2013. This was partly paid from a stand­by letter of credit (SBLC) facility and partly from the Mozambique assets sale proceeds from 2012 to January 2014.