The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has filed a supplementary chargesheet before the Special Court (PMLA), Rouse Avenue, New Delhi, against a British citizen, named Sachin Dev Duggal, in connection with probe into alleged money laundering case against Videocon Group, the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

The ED said that Duggal, chairman of Swiss company nHoldings and beneficial owner of Indian tech firms Nivio Technologies and Engineer.AI, was the key beneficiary of a “calculated scheme through which funds from Videocon Industries (VIL) were siphoned and laundered through a chain of overseas entities.”

In December 2024, the agency filed a chargesheet against Videocon Group Chairman VN Dhoot and 12 others, in respect of which cognisance was taken by the Special Court on February 10, the statement said. It added that investigation revealed “systematic diversion of funds, totalling approximately $2.03 billion, by the Videocon Group promoters, layered through a complex web of overseas entities.”

Investigation initiated

ED initiated investigation on the basis of CBI FIR, alleging that Videocon Hydrocarbon Holdings (VHHL), a wholly-owned step-down subsidiary of Videocon Industries (VIL), availed a Standby Letter of Credit (SBLC) facility of $2,773.60 million from a consortium of banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) for development of overseas oil and gas assets in Mozambique, Brazil and Indonesia.

The agency said VIL started advancing interest-free loans totalling Rs 17.32 crore to Duggal-controlled Nivio Technologies India in 2008, without even a formal loan agreement.

“A loan agreement was hurriedly signed on May 24, 2011, and the very next day, an overseas Videocon entity invested Swiss Franc 37.9 lakh in Duggal’s Swiss company nHoldings at a heavily inflated valuation, despite the company being loss-making,” the ED said.

Between 2011 and 2014, Videocon routed Rs 20.12 crore to nHoldings and directly to Sachin Dev Duggal through a deliberate five-entity overseas chain, it said.

The agency further claimed that financial records of Nivio Technologies show that during FY12, the company received Rs 35 crore from nHoldings, Duggal’s Swiss company. “This was the exact same period when Videocon Group was transferring money into nHoldings. During the same year, the ownership structure of NivioTechnologies was also changed. nHoldings was made the ultimate parent company of Nivio Technologies India, and Nivio Cloud Computing India was placed as an intermediate entity holding shares in Nivio Technologies,” ED said.

Through this reorganisation, the agency said that Duggal ensured his control on all the companies, both in India and abroad. “However, end use of these funds are still unexplained. As per the financial statement of nHoldings for the year ending on March 31, 2013, the investments in Nivio was fully written off,” the agency said.