ICICI Bank sacks Chanda Kochhar following allegations in ICICI-Videocon case
Chanda Kochhar says she is hurt and shocked by the decision; bank also asks her to return over Rs 10 crore that she received in bonuses since April 2009.
The ICICI Bank board has dismissed Chanda Kochhar, former CEO and Manging director of the bank, after she was found guilty in an internal probe conducted by the bank for violating its code of conduct.
The probe was conducted by former Supreme Court judge BN Srikrishna in connection to the ICICI-Videocon loan case. It found that Kochhar had failed to deal with conflict of interest by not making voluntary disclosures that should have been done.
The bank has also asked Kochhar to return over Rs 10 crore in bonuses that she received since April 2009 (when she had taken the top post), and said that it would revoke her stock options, which is valued at Rs 346 crore, according to media reports.
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Kochhar said that she is utterly disappointed, hurt and shocked by the decision. She added that she has not been given a copy of the report, and said that none of the credit decisions at the bank are unilateral.
After having served the bank for the last 34 years, Kochhar said that she never shied away from taking tough decisions whenever required, and it was in the best interest of the organisation. She explianed that she had pursued her career as an independent professional with utmost honesty, dignity and integrity and that she will continue to have faith and belief in her conduct as a professional, and that she is certain that truth will ultimately prevail.
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Kochhar had voluntary stepped down from her position last year, following the allegations against her. She was alleged to have got ICICI Bank to lend money to the Videocon Group around the same time when its founder and chairman Venugopal Dhoot invested in Deepak Kochhar's company.