The
ICICI board, which consists of 12 members, is divided on whether
Kochhar should be on leave during the internal enquiry
ICICI
Bank Chairman M K Sharma has written an email to board members
seeking their opinion on whether Managing Director (MD) & Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) Chanda
Kochhar should
be asked to go on indefinite leave until the internal enquiry is
concluded, said people in the know.
“In
an email sent to board members last week, Sharma asked board members
whether they agreed that Kochhar should go on indefinite leave until
the ICICI Bank-constituted enquiry is completed to have a fair
outcome,” said one of the persons cited above.
Kochhar
is on her planned annual leave, the bank had said on June 1.
The
ICICI Bank board had come out in support of Chanda Kochhar on March
28, quashing allegations of a quid pro quo and favouritism in giving
a loan to the Videocon group, which, in turn, had invested in
Chanda’s husband Deepak Kochhar’s company NuPower Renewables.
The
initiation of probes by multiple agencies, including the Central
Bureau of Investigation, income-tax department, and Securities and
Exchange Board of India (Sebi), and a subsequent complaint from an
anonymous whistle-blower led to the board’s decision to conduct an
independent probe.
“This
may have prompted Sharma to ask the board on whether Kochhar should
go on extended leave,” said one of the sources.
Some
of the board members are of the view that Kochhar should resume
office after her leave so as to not cause any uncertainty among
shareholders.
“Since
the events are already recorded and possibly cannot be altered,
requesting Kochhar to proceed on leave at this point in time may send
the wrong signal to stakeholders, especially after the board had
showed full confidence and faith in her when the issue first broke
out,” one of the board members told Business Standard.
An
email sent to ICICI Bank did not elicit response. Sharma, too, did
not respond to text messages and phone calls.
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