Chanda Kochhar guilty as charged, loses all her bank perks

The Srikrishna committee that was tasked to probe the quid-pro-quo transactions in ICICI Bank submitted its report, saying that Chanda Kochhar violated the banks code of conduct. Post these findings, the bank said that it would treat Kochhar’s exit as ‘Termination for Cause’ under the Bank’s internal policies. This essentially means revocation of all her existing and future entitlements such as any unpaid amounts, unpaid bonuses or increments, unvested and vested & unexercised stock options, and medical benefits), and require the clawback of all bonuses paid from April 2009 to March 2018.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.The bank released a statement post the report. Here's what it said: The Audit Committee of the Bank had on June 6, 2018 appointed former Supreme Court judge, Hon’ble Mr. Justice (Retd.) B. N. Srikrishna as the Head of Enquiry (HOE) to undertake a comprehensive enquiry on allegations against Ms. Chanda Kochhar. The HOE was assisted by a law firm, and a forensic and investigative services firm for the conduct of the enquiry. The Bank has received the Enquiry Report from HOE, and the Board of Directors considered the same at the Board Meeting held on January 30, 2019. The Enquiry Report, with the scope period of April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2018 (unless specific information required enquiry into transactions or facts of an earlier period), concluded, primarily on account of ineffectively dealing with conflict of interest and due disclosure or recusal requirements, that Ms Chanda Kochhar was in violation of the ICICI Bank Code of Conduct, its framework for dealing with conflict of interest and fiduciary duties, and in terms of applicable Indian laws, rules and regulations. The Enquiry Report also concluded that her lack of diligence with respect to annual disclosures as required by the Bank in terms of its internal policies, the ICICI Bank Code of Conduct and applicable Indian laws, rules and regulations on her interests (direct or indirect) towards avoidance of conflict of interest, when considered that the Bank’s processes were dependent solely on the directors discharging their fiduciary duty to recuse themselves and avoid conflict, implies that the Bank’s processes were rendered ineffective by her approach to such disclosures and avoidance of conflict. The Bank notes that there are no implications of the Enquiry Report on its published financial statements (Indian or US GAAP) for the relevant periods. Following the receipt of the Enquiry Report, and due consideration of the Enquiry Report and the conclusions thereat, after due deliberations, the Board of Directors decided to treat the separation of Ms Chanda Kochhar from the Bank as a ‘Termination for Cause’ under the Bank’s internal policies, schemes and the Code of Conduct, with all attendant consequences (including revocation of all her existing and future entitlements such as any unpaid amounts, unpaid bonuses or increments, unvested and vested & unexercised stock options, and medical benefits), and require the clawback of all bonuses paid from April 2009 until March 2018, and to take such further actions as may be warranted in the matter. 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from Economic Times http://bit.ly/2ThGnE5