Port Blair, Oct 7 (PTI) Andaman and Nicobar Islands Chief Secretary Chandra Bhushan Kumar reviewed the loan recovery status of Andaman and Nicobar State Cooperative Bank Ltd (ANSCBL), which is under scanner for irregularities in disbursing hefty loans to shell companies, an official said.
On Monday, a meeting under the chairmanship of the chief secretary was held, and he reviewed the status of recovery of loan and advances by ANSCBL, the official said.
During the meeting, vice chairman Nand Kishore Singh and MD of the bank informed the chief secretary that an amount of Rs 27.16 crore has already been recovered against the Non-Performing Assets (NPA) accounts since April 2025.
Kumar advised the bank to further intensify their loan recovery efforts from the NPA account holders to bring down the NPA percentage within the prescribed norms.
On May 15, an FIR was lodged against ex-Congress MP and chairman of ANSCBL Kuldeep Rai Sharma in connection with the same irregularities.
Apart from Sharma, others named in the FIR include the bank’s former chairman, board members, directors/officials and several beneficiaries.
On July 18, the CID arrested Sharma in connection with the ANSCBL loan irregularities case.
There are allegations that the bank’s managing committee overlooked the recommendations of the loan screening committee and ignored the CIBIL report and mandatory documents while sanctioning loans, a police source said.
The investigation was started based on a complaint received from the deputy registrar of the cooperative societies (HQ), which alleged gross irregularities in sanctioning loans to various people by the lender.
Later, the Enforcement Directorate started a parallel investigation on July 31. They conducted raids at the office and house of all the accused and arrested Sharma and others in the same case.
The investigation agencies claimed that the scam is more than Rs 500 crore, and now the administration is trying to bring the bank back on a ‘healthy track’ through stringent measures to minimise the NPA lists.
So far, eight people have been arrested in connection with the scam. PTI SN SN RG
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