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Kochar challenged the Bombay High Court order restraining her from dealing with any of the 690,000 ESOPs already exercised by her between October 2018 to January 2019 and asking her to disclose gains if she has sold any of such shares.
A division bench of the Supreme Court today refused to entertain a plea by ex-ICICI CEO Chanda Kochhar seeking retiral benefits from the bank.
Kocchar has been an accused in a case registered by ED, Mumbai for offence punishable under Section 3 read with Section 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 for causing loss to ICICI Bank by sanctioning loans to Videocon Group of Companies in contravention of the Rules and Policies of ICICI Bank.
Today, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti dismissed Kochhar's plea saying, "Not a case for interference. We are not inclined to interfere with the high court order. The special leave petition is dismissed."
Bombay High Court's Single Judge Bench of Justice RI Chagla had in May refused to allow the plea moved by former ICICI Bank CEO seeking interim relief of early retirement benefits.
Kochhar had approached the High Court after the bank issued a letter to her terminating her cause.
The bank had received a complaint against the former CEO concerning a violation of the Code of Conduct. A committee was formed under the former Supreme Court Justice Srikrishna to probe into the allegations. Kochhar then wrote to the bank that she will go on leave till the inquiry is completed. However, in another letter, she sought an early retirement with benefits subject to certain conditions which were accepted by the bank.
The inquiry committee, in 2019 concluded that Kochhar had violated the code of conduct, after which the bank issued her a letter terminating her services.
In her plea before High Court, the former CEO sought benefits of the Employee Stock Options Scheme which was allotted to her unconditionally in the early retirement benefit.
Case Title: Chanda Kochhar vs. ICICI Bank
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