Two 'Firstland Holdings' hold the key to quid pro quo riddle in ICICI-Videocon-Deepak Kochhar case

The answer to whether there was any quid pro quo involved in ICICI Bank's loans to Videocon Industries lies buried in two companies with identical names 'Firstland Holdings Limited' born a decade apart in Hong Kong and Mauritius. It could also hold the key to whether Deepak Kochhar, the husband of ICICI Bank CEO & MD Chanda Kochhar, was the alleged beneficiary of 10 per cent of that loan, as claimed by investor whistleblower Arvind Gupta.

Both Venugopal Dhoot and Deepak Kochhar have denied that 10 per cent of ICICI loans (Rs 3250 crore and Rs 660 crore) were routed to Deepak's NuPower Renewables. Deepak Kochhar told India Today TV that Chanda Kochhar was not even aware of his joint venture with Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot in 2008.

However, Firstland Holdings has questionable antecedents. As far back as 27 November, 2002, Bank of China (Hong Kong) filed a petition to wind up Firstland Holdings Limited, Hong Kong (company registration no. 0585823). It was set up way back on 6 January, 1997. The company was 'dissolved' on grounds of 'compulsory winding up' by the High Court of Hong Kong on 26 August, 2005.

On December 28, 2007, nearly two years after the Hong Kong-based Firstland Holdings Limited was wound up, a company by an identical name 'Firstland Holdings Limited' was set up - this time in the Mauritius jurisdiction. It was incorporated with registration number C076560 by the Corporate and Business Registration Department of Mauritius.

Whistleblower and investor Arvind Gupta's petition to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) claims that during December 2010 and March 2012, Firstland Holdings, Mauritius, invested funds aggregating Rs 3,25 crore (10 per cent of the loan amount) in NuPower Renewables in the form of compulsorily convertible preference shares.

In 2014, that investment was transferred from Firstland Holdings to another Mauritius-based firm DH Renewables Holding. In December 2014, DH Renewables invested another Rs 66 crore (10 per cent of the second loan) in NuPower. Gupta's claims gave rise to the allegations of impropriety and conflict of interest.

DH Renewables is wholly-owned by Cayman Island-based fund Accion Diversified Strategies Fund LLC, which, in turn, is owned by Singapore-based financial services firm, Accion Capital Management. Its partners are Chua Thiam Joo, Pay Cher Wee, Teo Kian Huat, and Andy Yong.

Who owned Firstland Holdings, Hong Kong, and why it went into bankruptcy may hold answers to why Firstland Mauritius came into being.

It isn't clear whether the identical names of the two companies is mere co-incidence or both belong to the same owners/promoters. Since both these companies were registered as 'private' at Hong Kong and Mauritius Registrars, their ownership is not publicly available.

Corporate ownership and identity are often shrouded in the layers of holding structures across multiple geographies to camouflage real ownership of funds or tax avoidance. Routing ownership or investment via multiple geographies makes it answerable to various jurisdictions and equally complex and lengthy legal procedures. This makes that much more difficult to peel open the corporate veil.

Starting and shutting businesses in various countries is a standard tactic to create investigating dead-ends. Investigating agencies have a very difficult task up ahead to lift this corporate veil.