The Andaman and Nicobar State Cooperative Bank has appointed senior banking officer Abhinav Pal as its new Managing Director, replacing Raghubir Singh, as the institution seeks to distance its top executive position from individuals linked to the alleged cooperative bank scam estimated at around Rs 500 crore, according to people familiar with the matter.
The change comes as the alleged scam remains under investigation by multiple agencies. Separate charge sheets have already been filed by the Andaman and Nicobar Police and the Enforcement Directorate, while the bank management has also initiated its own departmental inquiry, people aware of the developments said.
The alleged scam, which has emerged as one of the most serious financial controversies involving the bank, pertains to suspected large-scale irregularities running into around Rs 500 crore. Several of the main accused are already behind bars, according to people familiar with the case. Even as criminal investigations have progressed through charge sheets filed by the police and the Enforcement Directorate, the bank’s management has continued with its own internal process to fix accountability and examine the institutional lapses that allowed the alleged fraud to take place, sources said.
According to sources familiar with the board’s thinking, the bank management took the view that no person named as an accused in the alleged scam should continue in a key managerial role if the internal inquiry is to be seen as impartial and credible. Raghubir Singh, who is understood to have turned approver for the investigating agencies and has not been arrested, had initially been named as a co-accused in the case, the sources said.
People familiar with the bank’s internal discussions said the board believed that retaining a person linked to the alleged scam in the Managing Director’s post would undermine the credibility of the departmental inquiry and further damage public confidence in the institution, which is already grappling with a trust deficit and falling deposits.
Restoring confidence
Pal, according to his professional profile, has more than 15 years of experience in banking operations, governance and regulatory compliance and was until now serving as General Manager for Banking and Operations. He has been associated with the institution since September 2010 and has been in his current role since October 2024. His profile states that he oversees branch operations and control functions across the organisation and leads a workforce of more than 100 officers and staff.
His experience includes enterprise banking operations across multi-location branch networks, operational risk oversight, regulatory liaison and compliance with RBI and NABARD guidelines, audit coordination, core banking system governance, vendor monitoring, process standardisation and leadership reporting to senior management and board-level committees, according to the profile. Sources in the bank said his appointment was intended to ensure that the affairs of the bank, as well as the ongoing departmental inquiry, are overseen by an officer not linked to the alleged irregularities.
The move also followed complaints from citizens over Singh’s continuation in the top post. In one such complaint addressed to the Registrar of Cooperative Societies, P.B. Murugan objected to the appointment of a person named in an FIR linked to the fraud case, describing it as contrary to good governance and harmful to the interests of the bank, its stakeholders and its depositors.
According to the complaint, the then Managing Director was in a position to influence the course of the internal process, and his continuation could undermine the integrity of the investigation and erode public trust. The complaint sought his removal, an independent inquiry into related allegations, protection of the bank’s records and assets, and transparent communication with stakeholders. The Wave Andaman could not independently verify the allegations made in the complaint.
Murugan also argued in the complaint that appointing a person facing criminal investigation in connection with the same bank created a conflict of interest and raised the possibility of interference in the inquiry. The letter said such a decision could hurt employee morale and cause lasting reputational damage to the institution. Copies of the complaint were also marked to NABARD, the Chairman of the A&N State Cooperative Bank and the Lieutenant Governor.
The management, however, has denied allegations of manipulation surrounding the leadership change. According to persons aware of the management’s position, the decision to appoint Pal was driven by the need to restore depositor confidence and demonstrate that the bank’s present administrative leadership is separate from those named in the alleged scam.
Officials familiar with the matter said the bank believes depositor trust cannot be rebuilt so long as the institution continues to be headed by someone linked to the case, regardless of whether that individual has been arrested. In that sense, Pal’s appointment is being projected by the management as a corrective step aimed at insulating the departmental inquiry from controversy and signalling a clean break in leadership at a time of intense scrutiny.
