SRINAGAR: The J&K governor's administration on Saturday sacked Jammu and Kashmir Bank chairman Parvez Ahmad Negroo over wide-spread irregularities under his nose, following which state anti-corruption bureau ( ACB ) sleuths conducted raids on the corporate office of the bank on TRC Road here.

The ACB sleuths were looking for records of nearly 1,200 appointments of wards of PDP workers allegedly made at the behest of some politicians of the previous PDP-BJP government during Ahmad's tenure, sources said.

"Parvez Ahmad, chairman-cum-managing director, shall cease to be director on the Board of Directors of the bank and consequently be no longer the chairman-cum-managing director of the board," an order issued by Vishal Sharma, additional secretary, finance, said.

Soon after the sacking of Ahmad, who was appointed in October 2016 as the chairman of J&K Bank, the bank's board of directors met and named executive director RK Chhiber as its interim chairman. According to sources, members of the board were nominated by former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and her finance minister Haseeb Drabu.

The ACB sleuths sealed the HR department and chairman's office, and registered a case of misuse of official position by Ahmad under Prevention of Corruption Act, the sources said. The sleuths took away nearly 100 files and even reportedly raided the official residence of the sacked chairman.

Besides the wrong appointment scandal, Ahmad was allegedly responsible for giving loans of around Rs 10 crore to Showkat Ahmad Sharief, brother-in-law of Mehbooba, on inadequate mortgage.

There were also reports of several defaulter Valley businessmen having diverted crores of their borrowed amount to Dubai and other countries in the knowledge of Ahmad.

Later, putting out a tweet, Ahmad said he had done no wrong. "I am open to scrutiny on each and every transaction I have done during my two decades of functioning in the bank," he tweeted.

The sources said, during Ahmad's tenure, the bank had suffered losses and the J&K government, in a bid to bail it out, had invested Rs 532 crore, thereby raising its stake in the bank from 51% to 60%.

