Ex-chairman chargesheeted in Rs 223-cr bank loan scam

Tribune News Service

Jammu, August 11

Two months after former chairman of J&K State Cooperative Bank Limited (JKSTCB) Mohd Shafi Dar was arrested, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) today produced a chargesheet against him in the much-publicised Rs 223-crore loan scam.

Dar was arrested by the ACB on June 3.

‘Benefited non-existent Society’

An FIR was lodged against the former chairman of J&K State Cooperative Bank Limited and others for allegedly sanctioning loan of Rs 250 crore to the non-existent River Jhelum Co-operative House Building Society, Srinagar, for constructing a satellite township at Shiv Pora in Srinagar, bypassing the credit policy of the bank and on the basis of false documents. – An Anti-Corruption Bureau spokesperson

According to an Anti-Corruption Bureau spokesperson, the chargesheet was produced against Mohammad Shafi Dar, Hilal Ahmad Mir, the chairman of a non-existent River Jhelum Cooperative House Building Society (RJCHBS), Srinagar, and Abdul Hamid Hajam of Hazaratbal, Srinagar, and the secretary of the non-existent RJCHBS.

“An FIR was registered against the former chairman of the JKCBL and others in the ACB, Srinagar, for allegedly sanctioning loan to the tune of Rs 250 crore in favour of the RJCHBS, Srinagar, for the purpose of the construction of a satellite township at Shiv Pora Srinagar bypassing the credit policy of the bank and on the basis of false and fabricated documents,” the spokesperson said.

The investigation revealed that a conspiracy was hatched by Dar, Hilal Ahmad Mir, Abdul Hamid Hajam, Mohd Mujib-ur-Rehman Ghassi, the then registrar of Cooperative Societies, J&K, Syed Ashiq Hussain, deputy registrar, Cooperative Societies, and others in creating a non-existent Society in 2018-19 for obtaining the loan from the bank on the false pretext of constructing a satellite township in Shivpora, Srinagar, and for siphoning off loan funds.

“A fake and fictitious registration certificate of the Society was created by the accused and the Society’s chairman approached the Government Cooperative Department in January 2018 wherein directions were sought from the J&K Cooperative Department to the JKSTCB, Srinagar, for the grant of financial assistance to the tune of Rs 300 crore for the construction of the satellite township on 300 kanals of the proprietary land located on the outskirts of Srinagar,” the spokesperson said.

The chairman, in conspiracy with the borrower Hilal Ahmad and others, sanctioned the loan of Rs 250 crore in favour of the Society and out of that, Rs 223 crore was released into the accounts of 18 persons. An amount of Rs 202 crore has been frozen and the land, which was illegally leased out to a fictitious Society, has been got attached through the government.