Barely an hour after Jammu and Kashmir government removed Parvez Ahmed from the post of Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the J&K Bank, anti-corruption bureau (ACB) carried raids on his office and residence in Srinagar on Saturday.
Sources said sleuths of the ACB carried searches in Ahmed’s office in the Corporate headquarter of the Bank and his residence. “An ACB team led by senior officers seized some vital records pertaining to backdoor appointments, money laundering and other bungling in the Bank during the raids,” they said.
However, there was no official word from the ACB regarding the raids till this report was filed.
Earlier, the government appointed RK Chhibber as the interim chairman and the Director on the Board of Directors of J&K Bank. Chhibber replaced Ahmad, who was appointed as the chairman of the bank in 2016.
In an order issued on Saturday, the government said: “Parvez Ahmad, Chairman cum Managing Director, shall cease to be Director on the Board of Directors of the Bank and consequently be no longer the Chairman cum Managing Director of the bank.”
“RK Chhibber is hereby nominated as the Director on the Board and may be further appointed as the interim-Chairman-cum-Managing-Director of the Board,” the order read further.
“These directions shall come into effect immediately,” read the order, signed by Vishal Sharma, additional secretary to the government, Finance Department.
The state government owns 59% shares of J&K Bank. The bank was incorporated in 1938 and is listed on the NSE and BSE.
Ahmad was facing charges of favouritism and corruption and last year, Governor Satya Pal Malik had exposed a scam during the People’s Democratic Party-Bhartiya Janata Party government. He had said that the selection list of 528 candidates in the Bank was changed to appoint political workers of the parties.
