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A special court in Delhi has taken cognizance of a prosecution complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Videocon Mozambique oil deal case against businessman V Dhoot and 12 others in December 2024, the agency said on Monday (Feb 16, 2026).
The court took cognizance of the complaint on February 10 and issued notices against the accused persons/entities. The agency identified ₹1,136.49 crore as proceeds of the alleged crime.
The ED investigation is based on a first information report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation on June 23, 2020 after a preliminary investigation into alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal misconduct by Mr. Dhoot and others.
According to the ED, its investigation has shown that the foreign currency credit facilities used by the Videocon Group, namely the Standby Letter of Credit Facility (SBLC) approved by the State Bank of India-led Consortium of Indian Banks, the Jupitor facility and the Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) facility were systematically diverted.
“The diversion of funds was done under the overall control and direction of the Videocon Group promoters, with the active involvement of overseas group entities and intermediaries. The modus operandi involved routing the proceeds of the loan through Videocon Hydrocarbon Holdings Limited (VHHL) and its overseas oil and gas subsidiaries, whereupon the funds were layered through the Videocon Group’s complex web of operations that engaged in the group’s alleged overseas activities Videocon.
As noted, these entities included Jupitor Corporation Limited, Venus Corporation Limited, Eagle Corporation Limited, Paramount Global Limited, Quadrant Corporation Limited, Sky Billion Trading Limited and TGDC Guangdong Display Co. Ltd.
“Through circular transactions, export advance adjustments, inter-company loans and investments, funds were diverted and channeled back to India, where they were used for purposes completely unrelated to the sanctioned objectives, including meeting the expenditure of non-oil businesses, making investments and building personal and corporate assets,” the ED said.
It further alleged that a substantial portion of the diverted funds were layered back to 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 capital infusions, facilitating the concealment, integration and projection of diverted funds as legitimate income,” the agency said.
“To conceal the actual end-use of funds and to enable continuous access to credit facilities, false and misleading utilization certificates were submitted to the lending banks. Investigation revealed that out of the total facility of $4.54 billion, $2.02 billion was diverted by Videocon Group promoters for unintended purposes,” the ED said.
The agency said the accounts of VIL and its group companies turned into non-performing assets (NPAs) in 2018. “Banks have filed a total claim of ₹61,773.02 crore, including NPAs of ₹23,647.12 crore in respect of the SBLC facility,” it claimed, adding that ED’s 2.7 crore assets are worth ₹2.7 crore so far.
Published – 16 Feb 2026 20:50 IST