The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at six locations on Thursday as part of a probe into a Rs 250-crore money laundering case in Jammu and Kashmir. The targeted premises included those of the former chairman of Jammu and Kashmir State Cooperative Bank Limited. Initial reports had erroneously linked the case to the Jammu and Kashmir Bank.
Officials revealed that the alleged fraud transpired under the guise of the fictitious River Jhelum Cooperative Housing Building Society. The ED’s Srinagar office utilized its search and seizure authority, granted by the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), to carry out the operations.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had previously filed a chargesheet in August 2020 against Hilal A Mir, the chairman of the fictitious housing society, and the then chairman of J-K State Co-operative Bank Limited, Mohd Shafi Dar, among others. The charges pertained to offences under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act. According to the ACB investigation, Mir had submitted an application seeking financial assistance from the J-K Co-operative Bank Ltd for the construction of a satellite township on 37.5 acres of land on the outskirts of Srinagar. The J-K Co-operative Bank in Srinagar allegedly sanctioned a loan of Rs 223 crores without adhering to necessary formalities, such as obtaining essential details of the society.
The inquiry revealed that the River Jhelum Cooperative House Building Society was not registered with the Registrar Co-operative Societies, Jammu and Kashmir. Allegedly, Mir, in collaboration with Dar and others, forged a fake registration certificate for the society, facilitating the illegal sanctioning of the loan.
The disbursed loan amount, totalling Rs 223 crores, was credited to the accounts of the landowners, although the land itself was not mortgaged to the bank. The ACB’s investigation successfully uncovered siphoned-off funds amounting to Rs 223 crores, with Rs 187 crores of frozen funds by the bureau. The case underscores the need for robust measures against financial irregularities and money laundering in the region.
