Anti-Corruption Bureau sleuths raid J&K Bank headquarters again

Anti-corruption bureau sleuths, who are looking into allegations of fraudulent appointments in the Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Sunday again raided the financial institution's corporate headquarters here, officials said.

On Saturday, searches were carried out at the bank's headquarters at M A Road, soon after Parvez Ahmad was removed as its chairman by the state government.

The bureau is looking for records of nearly 1200 appointments made allegedly at the behest of political masters of the previous PDP-BJP dispensation in the state during Ahmad's tenure as chairman, the officials said.

They said the bureau has registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act on the basis of a complaint on illegal and fraudulent appointments made in the bank.

The bureau's sleuths conducted searches at the J&K Bank's headquarters along with police personnel this morning, the officials said.

They said the ACB officials were checking files and documents related to the appointments.

The government ordered Ahmad's dismissal and replaced him with an interim chairman R K Chibber who was executive president of the financial institution.

The allegations reflected in the complaint disclose commission of criminal misconduct by J&K Bank officers, a spokesman of the bureau said.

This constitutes offence "under section 5(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act Samvat-2006 and punishable under section 5(2) of the Act, case FIR No 10/2019 was registered in P/S Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) Central Kashmir in Srinagar and investigation of the case was taken up," he said.

Immediately after the FIR was registered, searches were conducted at the bank's headquarters and during the operation, "documents/discriminatory material pertaining to the appointments were seized, the spokesman said on Saturday.

The government, which owns majority stake in the bank, has said the decision to remove Ahmad was part of long term measures for improving functioning of the bank in accordance with RBI guidelines.

Keeping in view the concerns expressed in various quarters regarding the governance and functioning of the bank, the government has decided to take long term measures to improve its functioning so that it becomes a shining example of a well managed government-owned bank, an official spokesman said on Saturday.