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Chanda Kochhar Money Trail-VI: A Modern tale of deceit
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IANS Exclusive | 15 May, 2019
It is said that if you dress cronyism as a favour, then you wind up on
skid row. Equally, sorrows dont come individually but in battalions. The
tale of Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak intertwining their fate
and destiny with Videocons Venugopal Dhoot leaves behind in its wake a
smoking gun which refuses to go away from the scene of the crime. At
every twist and turn in this long running soap which resembles the cult
pulp soap Dynasty, Videocon and Dhoot turn up like a sugar daddy to sign
off on sweetheart deals.
Three dubious shellcos find convergence
as major investors in both the Credential Finance companies (CFL 1
& CFL 2) floated and owned by the Kochhar brothers - Deepak and
Rajiv - as discovered by IANS in its detailed investigation earlier in
the series. Modern Fashions, KG Computers and ABS Components. Curiously,
Modern Fashions Pvt Ltd was struck off in the wake of demonetisation.
Let us examine the Modern Fashions paper trail in government records.
CFL
balancesheet reveals that Modern Fashions as on September 30, 2000
invested Rs 1.20 crore in preference shares and Rs 37.43 lakh in equity
shares of CFL, a total of Rs 1.57 crore. Again, it emerges that there
are two companies named Modern in the mix, just like there are two
Credentials. Modern Fashion Pvt Ltd registered in Delhi
(U18101DL1988PTC031753) and Moderne Fashions Pvt Ltd registered in
Kolkata (U51909WB19 92PTC056997), which subsequently changed its name on
MCA's website to Modern Fashions Pvt Ltd (U51909WB1992PTC56997),
hitherto Modern Kolkata, a bonafide company not owned by Kochhars.
Modern
Kolkata was incorporated on November 17, 1992 with its registered
office as 9 Dacres Lane, Flat No 17, 2nd Floor, South Block, Kolkata
700069 by Vivek Himatsingka and Vishal Himatsingka. That is where the
similarity ends.
Modern Kolkata seems bonafide with no
connections to Kochhars. It files its returns regularly and appears to
be completely genuine. Meanwhile, Modern Delhi was incorporated by
Anjali Garg and Kamla Garg on May 19, 1988 with Rs 1,000 as authorised
capital, its registered office is B 33 SFS House, Sheikh Sarai 1, New
Delhi 110017.
Sometime in FY 2003-04, Modern Delhi surfaced on
the radar as it filed its returns, showing a loss of Rs 7,680. RoC
(Registrar of Companies) documents show that Rajiv Kochhar entered the
company as a minority shareholder and took over its directorship on
October 1, 1994. Majority shareholding was with Credential Holdings Pvt
Ltd which was incorporated along with elder brother Deepak for Rs 200 on
September 8, 1994. This is where Chanda Kochhar's brother-in-law Rajiv
pops up.
Over time, Modern Delhi's authorised capital ramps up
from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.55 crore on 4.10.1995. But the company's paid up
capital is shown as Rs 1.78 crore in the returns filed in 2003-04 and
2004-05. This company is shown as "struck off" at serial number 13422
out of a total of 24,945 companies that were struck off by RoC Delhi on
September 1, 2017 in their continuing action against errant companies
after DeMo.
Now comes the Videocon link, in its returns for
2002-04, the company has shown an unsecured loan of Rs 1.05 crore.
Further, it has stated that it made an investment of Rs 56.17 lakh (at
cost) in buying 48,000 shares of Videocon International Ltd.
Modern
Fashions owned 120,000 shares in CFL 1, while it held 374,300 shares in
CFL 2. This is where the convergence sets in. Interestingly, Form 18
also shows how the address of this company has changed. First it was 33
SFS Flats Pocket B, Sheikh Sarai, New Delhi 17 and then it was changed
to UB-5 Arunachal Bhawan, Barakhamba Road, Connaught Place, New Delhi,
effective 20.3.2006. When visited, the Barakhamba Road address is
clearly that of a suitcase company for it is just a hole in the wall,
with no sign of life. Here again there is a major discrepancy where the
physical copy of Form 18 and the online copy of Form 18 show different
addresses.
Physical copy shows Modern Delhi's registered office
as 24 School Lane, opposite Holiday Inn, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi-1,
to UB 5 Arunachal Bhawan, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi-1. Which is at odds
with the Sheikh Sarai address.
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