Loan Scam: CBI files charge-sheet against ex FM’s son, 2 others

Srinagar: In a major crackdown on corruption in Jammu & Kashmir, Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) Saturday filed a charge sheet before the Special CBI Court at Jammu against three accused including former finance minister’s son, Hilal Ahmad Rather and two others the then bank officials in connection with the loan scam.
Reports said the two other accused are Iqbal Singh and Arun Kapoor (both then Branch Heads of J&K Bank, New University Campus branch). The trio have been charged for causing huge loss to Bank.
In a statement, the CBI said that his charge sheet was filed by CBI within 10 days of registration of FIR and the case was investigated by special investigation team CBI had registered the case on 04.03.2020 on the request of UT of J&K and taken over the investigation of the case earlier registered at ACB J&K.
“During CBI Investigation, it was alleged that accused Hilal Rather entered into criminal conspiracy with the then officials of J&K Bank to get sanctioned a loan of Rs. 177.68 crore(approx) in violation of rules and guidelines. The loans that were sanctioned for construction of flats were allegedly diverted and misappropriated by the accused using the bank accounts of his employees. It was further alleged that the accused submitted forged certificates and bills to the bank,” the CBI statement said.
“It was also alleged that the bank officials did not verify the certificates and helped the said accused in siphoning off the loan amount and laundering of money. The Bank officials allegedly overlooked the rules and guidelines of the bank,” it said, adding that further investigation including acquisition of assets by accused in India/ Abroad and to identify other transactions is continuing