New Delhi, February 16 – The Special Court has issued notices to Venugopal Dhoot and 12 other entities in the Rs 61,773 crore bank loan fraud case related to Videocon’s oil and gas business in Mozambique, according to a statement issued by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Monday.
The notice, issued by the special court at Rouse Avenue in Delhi, is in response to a prosecution complaint filed by the ED on December 18, 2024, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the Videocon Mozambique Oil Deal case against V. Dhoot and 12 others.
The ED has established that the foreign currency loan facilities availed by the Videocon Group, including the SBLC Facility from the SBI-led consortium, the Jupiter Facility, and the Standard Chartered Bank Facility, were systematically diverted from their sanctioned purposes. These purposes were the development and refinancing of overseas oil and gas assets.
The diversion of funds was carried out under the control and direction of the Videocon Group promoters, with the active involvement of overseas group entities and intermediaries, the statement said.
The banks had filed a total claim of Rs. 61,773.02 crore, including NPA of Rs. 23,647.12 crore, in respect of the SBLC facility. The accounts of VIL and its group companies were classified as NPA in 2018.
A substantial portion of the diverted funds was channeled back into India through the books and bank accounts of Videocon Industries Limited (VIL) and its Indian group companies.
These inflows were disguised as export advances, loan repayments, investments, or equity infusions, facilitating the concealment, integration, and projection of the diverted funds as legitimate receipts.
To conceal the actual end-use of funds and enable continued access to credit facilities, false and misleading utilization certificates were submitted to the lender banks. An investigation revealed that out of the total facility of USD 4.54 billion, USD 2.02 billion was diverted by the promoters of the Videocon Group for non-intended purposes.
The accounts of M/S VIL and its group companies turned NPA in 2018.
The ED had issued two Provisional Attachment Orders for attaching assets worth Rs. 17.69 crore and Rs. 38.58 crore in this case. The prosecution complaint has been filed by the ED on December 18, 2024, for proceeds of crime amounting to Rs. 1136.49 crore against V. N. Dhoot and 12 others.
The modus operandi for diverting the funds involved routing the loan proceeds through Videocon Hydrocarbon Holdings Limited and its overseas oil and gas subsidiaries.
The funds were then channeled through a complex web of overseas Videocon Group companies engaged in activities unrelated to oil and gas operations: M/s. Venus Corporation Limited, M/s. Eagle Corporation Limited, M/s. Paramount Global Limited, M/s. Quadrant Corporation Limited, M/s. Sky Billion Trading Limited, and M/s. TGDC Guangdong Display Co., Ltd.
Through circular transactions involving export advances, intercompany loans, and investments, the funds were diverted and routed back to India. They were used for purposes unconnected to the sanctioned objectives, including covering the expenses of non-oil businesses, making investments, and creating personal and corporate assets, the ED statement explained.
Earlier, the CBI, after conducting a preliminary enquiry, registered an FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act, for the offences of “Criminal Conspiracy, Cheating, Criminal Misconduct by V. N. Dhoot, unknown bank officials, and others.