Srinagar, May 18 (IANS): J&K's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday arrested the Chairman of the non-existent Jhelum Cooperative House Building Society in connection with a multi-crore land scam unearthed in the state cooperative bank.

A statement issued by the ACB said that a preliminary enquiry was conducted on the allegations that the Chairman of J&K state cooperative bank in connivance with the officials/beneficiaries of a non-existent cooperative house building society had sanctioned Rs 223 crore fraudulently in favour of the said society run by Hilal Mir, son of Sanaullah Mir of Magarmal Bagh, Srinagar.

It was further revealed that the so-called Chairman of the society had moved an application to the Secretary, Cooperatives where under he sought directions to the cooperative bank for grant of financial assistance to the tune of Rs 300 crore for taking over the possession of 300 kanals of land for construction of a satellite township in the outskirts of Srinagar city.

The bank sanctioned Rs 223 crores without adhering to any formalities. No balance sheet, profit and loss statement, income tax return or even the PAN Card of the beneficiary is on record with the loan documents.

The statement added that the ACB has been successful in unearthing the siphoned-off funds to the tune of Rs 223 crores and an amount of Rs 187 crores has been frozen by the ACB.

The coperative bank's Chairman Mohammad Shafi Dar, who was sacked last week by the government, has also booked by the ACB.