Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Dec 1 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today arrested the former chairman of Jammu and Kashmir State Co-operative Bank Limited and chairman of a fake Co-operative Society for money laundering.
A spokesman of the ED said that the agency conducted search/survey operations at 8 locations in Srinagar and arrested former chairman of Jammu and Kashmir State Co-operative Bank Limited Mohammad Shafi Dar and Chairman of River Jhelum Co-operative House Building Society, Hilal Ahmad Mir, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in a case related to the fraudulent sanctioning of loan by J&K State Co-operative Bank (JKSTCB) to the tune of Rs 250 Crores in 2019 to a fake cooperative society named River Jhelum Co-operative House Building Society, Shivpora, Srinagar.
“The ED initiated investigation on the basis of FIR and consequent chargesheets filed by LEA, Srinagar invoking various sections of Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) and Jammu and Kashmir Prevention of Corruption Act (JK PC Act) Samvat 2006 (Corresponding to IPC and PCA) against five accused persons viz. Hilal Ahmad Mir (Chairman of River Jhelum Co-operative House Building Society), Abdul Hamid Hajam (Secretary of River Jhelum Co-operative House Building Society), Mohammad Mujeeb Ur Rehman Ghassi (the then Registrar of Cooperative Societies, J&K), Syed Ashiq Hussain (the then Dy. Registrar of Co-operative Societies, J&K) and Mohammad Shafi Dar (the then Chairman of JKSTCB),” the statement said.
It added that ED investigation revealed that the aforementioned persons had managed to fraudulently get the sanction of a loan of Rs 250 crore from JKSTCB in the name of a fake society, River Jhelum Co-operative House Building Society.
“The same was siphoned off as payments made towards purchase of land parcels, without any collateral security and overlooking all regulatory procedures, and in pursuance of the criminal conspiracy relating to offence of money laundering under PMLA, 2002,” the statement said.
“During the course of search operations, several incriminating documents, property documents, including digital devices, have been recovered and seized. Both the arrestees were produced on Friday before the Special PMLA Court, Srinagar, which ordered the accused to be in ED Custody till 02.12.2023 and directed for further hearing in the matter,” it added.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Kashmir had already filed a charge sheet in the case against Mir and Dar and others for the commission of offences under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act in August 2020.
According to the ACB probe, Mir had moved an application to the Secretary Cooperatives, Administration Department of Co-operative Societies, where he sought directions to the J&K Co-operative Bank Ltd for a grant of financial assistance to the tune of Rs 300 crores for taking over possession of 37.5 acres of land in the outskirts of Srinagar for construction of a satellite township.
The application was endorsed to the Registrar of Cooperative Societies Jammu and Kashmir for taking up the matter with J&K State Cooperative Bank.
Accordingly, the J&K Co-operative Bank in Srinagar sanctioned a loan to the tune of Rs 223 crores without adhering to any codal formalities, that is obtaining the details of the society such as balance sheet, profit and loss, account business, activities being done by the society, PAN number, Income Tax return, details of construction of the Board Resolutions.
The inquiry revealed that River Jhelum Cooperative House Building Society has not been even registered with Registrar Co-operative Societies, Jammu and Kashmir, and Mir by acting in league with Dar and others had prepared a fake and fictitious registration certificate in the name of the society and managed the sanction of loan.
The loan amount was disbursed into the accounts of the land owners but the land has not been mortgaged to the bank.
Further, an investigation conducted by the ACB has been successful in unearthing the siphoned-off funds to the tune of Rs 223 crore and an amount to the tune of Rs 187 crore has been frozen by the bureau.
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