State netas may feel heat as raids intensify against ex-J&K Bank chief
The raids were conducted following allegations that Parvez Ahmed offered loans worth crores to people recommended by politicians and placed his relatives in plum positions.
The JK Bank had also recently signed an insurance deal with IFFKO TOKIO, where Parvez Ahmed’s sister’s son is working.
Srinagar | New Delhi: In a crackdown that could reach many high-profile politicians in the state, the Jammu and Kashmir government had started investigations against a web of operations surrounding former J&K Bank chairman Parvez Ahmed Nengroo.
The raids were conducted following allegations that Parvez Ahmed offered loans worth crores to people recommended by politicians, placed his relatives in plum positions, and for even diverting funds meant for the bank’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative for the beautification of Royal Spring Golf Course –– a rendezvous of the elite.
However, officials in the state administration and police claim that the crackdown is part of the government’s efforts to build a case against the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference (NC) for their alleged intervention into recruitment and functioning of the bank.
“Farooq Abdullah’s name figures in the cricket scam and now GoI would make sure that through Parvez, Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP figures in the recruitment scam in J&K Bank as well. They want to keep snakes around everybody here in Kashmir,” a senior bureaucrat told ET. He stated that Parvez Ahmed’s removal order should have come from the RBI and not from the state administration.
The government’s move to remove Ahmed soon after the NDA win has political overtones as people in Kashmir see it as a Central government ploy to control institutions within the state directly. This is also seen as an extension of the debate on the Centre’s attempts to deprive the state of its special status.
The vigilance department, which continued its raids on Sunday at the bank’s headquarters and Ahmed’s residence in Srinagar, has registered corruption cases against bank officials and is investigating illegal appointments, fraudulent promotions, transfers and loan settlements in the bank since 2010.
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THE ALLEGATIONS Sources in the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), which is investigating the charges against Ahmed, said the bank was being run as Ahmed’s personal fiefdom as he got his nephew Muzaffar posted into his office immediately after taking over as chairman.
Pravez Ahmed’s nephew’s wife, Shazia Ambreen, was appointed as a PO and is currently heading its Hazratbal branch. Two of his relatives –– Asif Beg and M Fahim –– control the HR and board affairs, including credit proposals.
Faheem Nengroo and Taseen Nengroo, who are also related to him, were working in the former chairman’s office, said sources aware of the investigation carried out by ACB.
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The JK Bank had also recently signed an insurance deal with IFFKO TOKIO, where Parvez Ahmed’s sister’s son is working.
Official sources said Shamsuddin Andrabi, a 12th pass, and a relative of former PDP minister Farooq Andrabi, was appointed directly as manager and posted in JK Bank’s Bhaderwah branch. Officials close to ACB said two JK bank branches –– in Kaprin Shopian and Wuyan Pulwama –– operate in the premises owned by him and his in-laws.
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Ahmed was also charged with indiscriminate transfer of bank staff and for that his personnel manager Aslam Ganai acted as his conduit, said informed sources. Loans worth hundreds of crores of rupees were allegedly sanctioned in brazen violation of the standard operating procedure to select persons recommended by Kashmir politicians –– Imran Ansari and Sajad Lone.
The ACB is also looking into the siphoning of public money through CSR. Sources stated that `8 crore was spent under CSR on beautification of Royal Spring Golf Course, which has no utility for common people. Investigators are also probing why the interior work of hundreds of branches were allotted to select individuals for Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore a branch when the actual cost was only 30% of the money paid, said official sources.
POLITICAL REACTIONS Former chief minister Omar Abdullah took to twitter to state that the bank should not be made a victim of politicking between Kashmir and BJP-dominated Jammu.
“Any steps taken to improve the functioning of J&K Bank will be welcomed. But the administration of the day must guard against playing politics with the bank. It’s called J&K Bank for a reason.
It’s not meant to be a trophy for regionalist politics.”
