Monitor News Bureau
Former chairman among five booked by ACB
Srinagar: J&K Anti Corruption Bureau has registered a case against some top J&K Bank officers for awarding a huge house-keeping contract to a Mumbai firm in 2015 without following proper norms.
A spokesperson of the bureau said the improper awarding of the contract resulted in losses to the tune of over Rs 6.29 crore to the bank.
The bureau has registered an FIR against accused Surjeet Singh Seghal, the then Executive President J&K Bank (now retired), Parvaiz Ahmad, the then Chairman of J&K Bank (now retired), Feroz Ahmad, the then Assistant Vice President; and Sahil Vora and Rishabh Vora, Directors, M/s SILA Solutions Pvt. Ltd. along with the residents of 508 Olympus Apartments 5C, Altamont Road, Mumbai.
“The case was registered on the allegation that the officers of J&K Bank awarded tenders of housekeeping to a Mumbai based Company M/s SILA Solutions Pvt. Ltd by not following the proper tendering norms and that has led to the losses to the bank of the tune of Rs. 6,29,56,575.00 from the date of award of contract,” the spokesperson said.
The case, he said, pertains to allotment of tenders, for housekeeping of offsite ATMs, to the Mumbai based Company.
“The bank officials did not follow proper tendering norms and provided the contract to the firm despite not falling into the criteria of any such allotment,” the ACB spokesperson said.
A verification conducted by ACB Central into the matter has revealed that J&K Bank headquartes in Srinagar came out with a pan India tender for housekeeping services in the year 2015.
“J&K bank officials in contravention of tender conditions negotiated the rates with M/S SILA Solutions Pvt Ltd. The tender was awarded to M/S SILA Solutions Pvt Ltd in gross violation of General Financial Rules (GFR),” the spokesperson said.
The contract amongst other conditions included ATM cleaning and deployment of janitors.
The additional management fee awarded to M/S SILA Solutions Pvt Ltd by J&K Bank was not part of original tender.
“The loss on the account of the tender has worked out to be more than Rs 6 crs. The loss is likely to go up as investigation progresses. In this connection, on 17.09.2020, P/S ACB Srinagar Kashmir conducted search at the residential house of Feroz Ahmad Kaloo, Assistant Vice President J&K Bank S/O Mohammad Maqbool Kaloo situated at Mohalla Muma Khan (Kathidarwaza), opposite Psychiatric Hospital Rainwari Srinagar. Incriminating documents were seized during searches. The investigation of the case is in progress,” the spokesperson said.
