The UP government has suspended two senior bank officials of a District Cooperative Bank for allegedly making interest payments to trust’s linked with Azam Khan – the senior leader of the Samajwadi Party – in violation of established rules, media reported on Saturday (16 September).
As per media reports, the two suspended bank officials include Shakeel Ahmed, Deputy General Manager. and Upendra Kumar Saraswat, Secretary. Both of them are senior officials of District Cooperative Bank Rampur. The action has been taken against the two officials following an investigation regarding financial irregularities.
Both of them have been accused of making illegal payments of interest to Azam Khan’s Jauhar University, Jauhar Trust, and Rampur Public School. Following the suspension, both of them have been attached to Lucknow headquarters.
The investigation revealed that the Jauhar University branch of the District Cooperative Bank, considered the bank accounts operated in the name of Jauhar University and Jauhar Trust as savings accounts. Afterward, the branch paid interest worth Rs 17.58 lakh to Jauhar University and Rs 2.18 lakh to Jauhar Trust in July 2022.
Apart from that, the degree college branch of the District Cooperative Bank also treated the account operated in the name of Rampur Public School as a savings account. Subsequently, it paid interest of Rs 3.67 lakh to the public school.
Interestingly, all three accounts are being operated by the Samajwadi Party leader, Mohammad Azam Khan.
According to the rules, the District Cooperative Bank can neither consider these accounts operated by all three institutions as savings accounts nor can it pay interest to them.
Several other institutions, including Saraswati Shishu Mandir, Saraswati Vidya Mandir, Arya Samaj, and District J Panchayat, among others, also hold accounts in the District Cooperative Bank. However, they have not received any interest payments from the bank.
When the matter came to the notice of local MLA Akash Saxena, he sent a complaint to the Additional Chief Secretary demanding an investigation into the matter.
After receiving information, MLA Saxena sent a complaint to the state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath which prompted the formation of an inquiry committee.
In its investigation, the committee found that the payment of interest was against the established rules. As a result, the UP government led by CM Yogi Adityanath has suspended both the bank officials and has attached them to the headquarters.
Earlier, the Income Tax (IT) department conducted raids at the premises of SP leader Azam Khan in Rampur in relation to a tax evasion probe against the former cabinet minister. The agency raid which continued for three days, was reportedly linked to the Al Jauhar Trust. It is expected that the suspected tax evasion is to the tune of Rs 800 crores.
At least 30 premises across Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh were searched including in Lucknow, Rampur, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Saharanpur, and Sitapur as part of a tax evasion probe against Azam Khan.
Azam Khan is the head of the Al Jauhar Trust. A lease for a 3.24-acre plot of the Trust was cancelled by the Uttar Pradesh government earlier this year. The plot was reportedly given to the Trust to set up a research institute and the lease was signed in 2013-14 for Rs 100 a year for over 30 years.
However, Azam Khan claimed that he relies on the money he earns from his dairy. During the raid, he told the IT officers that about Rs 20,000 comes from his buffalo dairy, and that’s what keeps his home running.
