New Delhi: ICICI Bank Ltd on Monday said CEO Chanda Kochhar would go on leave until the completion of an inquiry over an alleged conflict of interest, and named Sandeep Bakhshi, the head of its life insurance unit, as chief operating officer (COO) and whole-time director on the bank’s board. Bakhshi, whose appointment is for a period of five years beginning 19 June, pending regulatory approvals, will report to Kochhar, the bank said in a statement. The new ICICI Bank COO will report to the board during Kochhar’s period of leave.
“Bakhshi will be responsible for handling all the businesses and corporate centre functions at the bank,” ICICI Bank said in a statement late on Monday, adding all executive directors of the bank and the executive management would report to him. Directors on ICICI Bank’s nomination panel are readying a succession plan for Kochhar, Mint reported on Friday.
Mint had on 1 June reported that Kochhar was asked to proceed on indefinite leave from until an independent enquiry announced by the ICICI Bank board to probe alleged cases of impropriety is concluded. ICICI Bank had then said that the board has not asked Kochhar to go on leave. “She is on her annual leave which was planned in advance,” the bank had said in a BSE filing.
Kochhar’s leadership has come under a cloud after allegations of a conflict of interest over loans made to Videocon Group, whose chairman Venugopal Dhoot had business links with her husband Deepak Kochhar. The allegations first surfaced in 2016, but the ICICI Bank board gave her a clean chit in April—only to start an internal investigation later into allegations of “conflict of interest” and “quid pro quo” in Kochhar’s dealing with certain borrowers Mint reported on 30 May.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi, and the US SEC are probing the alleged lapses involving Chanda Kochhar and her family members. Sebi has powers to impose a penalty but not demand the resignation of ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar if she is found guilty in the Videocon loan case.
There have been allegations of involvement of Kochhar and her family members in a loan provided to Videocon Group on a quid pro quo basis. It was alleged that Videocon pumped money into NuPower Renewables, a firm owned by Deepak Kochhar. Some companies of Videocon group secured over Rs 3,000 crore in loans from ICICI Bank, along with a group of 19 other banks, in 2012.
No comments:
Post a Comment