ANSCBL managing committee 'misrepresented' NPA statements: Police officer

Port Blair, Sep 5 (PTI) Investigations into Andaman and Nicobar State Cooperative Bank Ltd's (ANSCBL) loan scam have revealed that the previous managing committee, chaired by former Congress MP Kuldeep Rai Sharma, "misrepresented" non-performing asset (NPA) statements and "falsely" tried to portray the bank in good shape, a police officer said.

On May 15, 2025, the Andaman and Nicobar Police lodged an FIR against Sharma in connection with the ANSCBL loan scam.

Speaking to PTI, the officer said, "We got hold of a document dated March 2018, which revealed how the bank managing committee manipulated the NPA lists. As per the bank statement, they claimed that till March 31, 2018, the NPA stood at 18.42 per cent. But the actual gross NPA worked out by the test auditors was 46.33 per cent, which showed that the bank was in bad shape for more than seven years till several arrests were made by us this year." "The audit report for the year 2017-18 reveals a total of 1,434 NPA accounts amounting to Rs 105,73,09,766 (approximately), whereas the actual NPA by the test audit till March 31, 2018, revealed Rs 266,00,72,825 (approximately). Then the bank management excluded 651 NPA accounts amounting to Rs 160,27,63,059 (approximately) from the total NPA till March 31, 2018," he said.

Apart from Sharma, others named in the FIR include the cooperative bank's former chairman, board members and directors/officials of the bank and several beneficiaries.

The officer said, "We found deliberate wrongdoing on the bank side in sanctioning loans indiscriminately to projects including commercial housing, hotels, resorts, shipping sector and cash credit/overdraft limits to units and companies without applying due diligence for appraisal of commercial proposals, resulted in a sharp rise in NPA. Unfortunately, instead of taking corrective measures, they tried to hide the deteriorated condition of the bank." On July 18, 2025, the CID arrested Sharma (former chairman of the ANSCBL) in connection with the loan irregularities case.

The arrest was made following a complaint from the deputy registrar of the cooperative societies (HQ), which alleged gross irregularities in sanctioning loans to various people by the lender.

Later, the ED also started a parallel investigation. On July 31, the ED conducted its first-ever search operation at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In the last two weeks, they (ED) have summoned more than 10 people for examination.

During the search operation, the ED officers collected evidence which suggested that over Rs 500 crore loan amount was fraudulently obtained through more than 100 loan accounts.

Since June 25, eight people have been arrested in connection with the scam, including ANSCBL managing director K Murugan, bank employee Kalaivanan, K Subramanian (ANSCBL director) and others in connection with the ANSCBL loan scam. PTI SN SN RG