ACB books ex-JCC Bank manager for financial irregularities in Rajouri

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) booked a former manager of the Jammu Central Co-operative Bank Ltd (JCCB) on Monday for alleged financial irregularities in the bank in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, officials said.

The ACB registered a formal case against Rajinder Raj Sharma, a former district manager of the bank, at Rajouri, they added.

The case was registered upon a verification exercise carried out by the ACB on the basis of a complaint lodged by Parmanand alleging financial irregularities and mismanagement by the officers and officials of the bank, they said.

During the course of the verification, it surfaced that Sharma abused his official position and by conferring undue pecuniary advantages on the beneficiaries and those who had obtained loans from the bank, had violated the terms and conditions in respect of a one-time settlement (OTS) in 2015-16 for liquidation of loans by defaulters, the officials said.

They said Sharma, without processing the OTS proposals before the settlement committee, had made settlements on his own and a copy of each settlement was given to the beneficiaries for information during 2015-16.

Moreover, while granting OTS, he did not make any negotiation on the interest portion, the officials said.

After lodging a formal case under the relevant sections of law, the ACB also conducted searches with the help of police and a magistrate at the residence of the accused in Barnai, Jammu.

During the process, incriminating documents were seized on the spot in the presence of independent witnesses, the officials said.

A detailed and in-depth scrutiny of the seized documents will be carried out by the ACB, they added.