INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Mumbai: Hours after an official of securities market regulator Sebi or Securities and Exchange Board of India said that ICICI Bank has filed
out-of-the-court settlement procedure to settle cases - called consent mechanism - which does not warrant admission or denial of the alleged
submitted our response to the show cause notice issued by Sebi
We would like to clarify that we have not filed any application for settlement," ICICI Bank said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.Earlier
in the day, answering questions on the issue after the annual board meet, Sebi chief Ajay Tyagi had said: "On the ICICI (issue), to my
information some reply has come from the bank and the earlier CEO (Kochhar), so, we will examine that."On the plea for settlement through
consent mechanism, Mr Tyagi claimed ignorance
However, another Sebi official present at the conference confirmed the request.Sebi had issued a show cause notice to ICICI Bank and its MD
and CEO Chanda Kochhar regarding conflict of interest in lending to Videocon Group, which has had business tie-ups with her husband Deepak
Kochhar.Currently, former Supreme Court judge BN Srikrishna (Retd) is heading an independent enquiry into the allegations.The bank on May 30
announced that its Board has decided to institute a "comprehensive enquiry" to look into an anonymous whistle-blower's complaint alleging
that Ms Kochhar had not adhered to provisions relating to "code of conduct" of the bank.In June, Ms Kochhar decided to proceed on leave and
subsequently, Sandeep Bakhshi was appointed the wholetime director and chief operating officer (COO) of the bank.
