NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate questioned former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and her husband for seven hours on Monday in connection with the alleged bank loan fraud and money laundering case registered against her. The questioning will continue on Tuesday. Kochhar arrived at the Enforcement Directorate’s office in Khan Market around 10.30 am and left at 7.15 pm, official sources said.
“Today the agency has sought response to some of the queries which we had prepared. They have answers to many of them. They also are required to record their statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). We could not complete it today, so they were asked to appear again tomorrow,” a source from the ED said.
A few days ago, the ED had questioned Chanda Kochhar’s brother-in-law Rajiv Kochhar.
“The agency is probing the money trail among the immediate family members and their involvement in the process. We are examining all statements given by them in the past,” the official said, refusing to divulge further details in the probe.
Chanda Kochhar was also grilled in March at the Mumbai office after the ED had conducted raids at her residence and the offices of Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon Group in Mumbai and Aurangabad.
The ED had registered a criminal case under the PMLA early this year against Chanda Kochhar, Deepak Kochhar, Dhoot and others to probe alleged irregularities and corrupt practices in sanctioning of Rs 1,875 crores in loans by the bank to the corporate group, which was based on a CBI FIR.