ED files charge sheet against British national in Videocon money laundering case

THe Enforcement board of directors (ED) has filed a bill sheet of paper against british people citizen Sachin Dev Duggal in connectedness with its probe into alleged money laundering against the Videocon Group, the agency said on Wednesday.It said Duggal, a resident of London and chairman of Swiss company nHoldings SA, is the beneficial owner of Indian tech firms Nivio Technologies and Engineer.AI. The ED added he “was the key beneficiary of a calculated scheme through which funds from Videocon Industries Limited (VIL) were siphoned and laundered through a chain of overseas entities”.In December 2024, the ED filed a charge sheet against Videocon Group chairman Venugopal N Dhoot and 12 others in the case.The money laundering case stems from a June 2020 Central Bureau of Investigation first information report alleging that Videocon Hydrocarbon Holdings Limited, a wholly-owned VIL step-down subsidiary, availed a Standby Letter of Credit facility of $2,773.60 million from a State Bank of India-led consortium of banks ostensibly to develop oil and gas assets in Mozambique, Brazil, and Indonesia.The ED on Wednesday cited investigations and said they showed Videocon Group promoters’ “systematic diversion” of these funds, totalling approximately $2.03 billion, layered through a complex web of overseas entities.It said the VIL started advancing interest-free loans totalling ₹17.32 crore to Duggal-controlled Nivio Technologies India in 2008 without a formal loan agreement. “A loan agreement was hurriedly signed on May 24, 2011, and the very next day, an overseas Videocon entity invested CHF 37.9 lakh in Duggal’s Swiss company nHoldings SA at a heavily inflated valuation, despite the company being loss-making,” the ED said.It added Videocon routed $37.07 lakh ( ₹20.12 crore) to nHoldings SA and to Duggal through a deliberate five-entity overseas chain between 2011 and 2014. The ED claimed that the financial records of Nivio Technologies show that during FY 2011-12, the company received ₹35 crore from nHoldings SA, Duggal’s Swiss company. “This was the exact same period when Videocon Group was transferring money into nHoldings SA. During the same year, the ownership structure of Nivio Technologies was also changed. NHoldings SA was made the ultimate parent company of Nivio Technologies India Pvt Ltd, and Nivio Cloud Computing India Pvt Ltd was placed as an intermediate entity holding shares in Nivio Technologies.”The ED said Duggal ensured that all companies in India and abroad remained under his direct control through this reorganisation. “However, end use of these funds are still unexplained. As per the financial statement of nHoldings SA for the year ending on March 31, 2013, the investments in Nivio were fully written off.”The ED said Duggal failed to appear before it even as summons were issued to him. HT has reached out to Duggal’s lawyer for comments. The story will be updated if a response is received.