Karuvannur bank scam: CPI(M) attacks ED for 'coercing' witnesses

The ruling CPI(M) on Friday hit out at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) which is probing the Karuvannur bank scam case, and alleged that witnesses were being assaulted to get them to name senior party leaders in the case.

CPI(M) state secretary, M V Govindan, said the central agency plans to destroy the cooperative sector in the state and it amounts to being anti-democratic.

The Left leader's allegation came days after a witness in the Karuvannur scam case had alleged before the media that the ED officials had assaulted him and threatened him so that he would name senior CPI(M) leaders in the case.

Govindan, while addressing the press here said the state police acted swiftly and took necessary action in the bank scam case.

'However, after the police probe, the ED came and now they are targeting the Left leaders. The ED raided the house and interrogated senior party leader A C Moideen. They don't have any evidence against him. But they are now threatening the victims to name the Left leaders in the case,' Govindan said.

The CPI(M) leader was referring to K R Aravindakshan, a witness and a local councillor, who had alleged that the ED officials assaulted him.

'The ED officials are acting with impunity. They are threatening witnesses. They threatened one person saying his daughter's marriage will be stopped,' Govindan alleged.

He said the state government had taken proactive steps to save the cooperative sector during the time of demonetisation.

The senior left leader also claimed that over Rs 100 crore has been given back to the customers of the controversial Karuvannur cooperative bank.

On September 11, CPI(M) leader Moideen, was interrogated for over nine hours by the ED in connection with its probe into the Rs 150 crore Karuvannur Cooperative bank scam which triggered a political row in Kerala recently.

The case relates to the alleged fraud in the CPI(M)-controlled Karuvannur Cooperative Bank.

The ED has been questioning some people involved in the case since it conducted raids at their premises last month.

The agency has recorded the MLA's statement under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The ED had earlier issued freeze orders against bank and fixed deposits worth Rs 28 lakh of Moideen, the former Kerala Minister for Cooperation and Industries and his wife, apart from the seizure of 36 properties valued at Rs 15 crore -- 'proceeds of crime' in this case.

Moideen, who currently represents the Kunnamkulam constituency in the Kerala Assembly, had addressed the press after the raids conducted at his residence on August 22 and said the action was 'pre-planned,' adding that he would cooperate with any investigation.

The ED had claimed its probe found that 'on the instructions of certain persons, who were district-level leaders and committee members of a certain political party and governed the bank, loans were disbursed by the bank manager through the agent in cash to non-member benamis by mortgaging properties of poor members without their knowledge and laundered to the benefit of the accused'.

'Many such benami loans were disbursed on the instructions of A C Moideen,' it had alleged in a statement issued on August 23, a day after the raids were carried out.

Some of those whose premises raided were identified as Kiran P P, Rahim C M, Shiju M K and Satheesh Kumar P, according to the ED.

The agency had recently arrested Kumar and Kiran. They claimed that Kumar was the kingpin.

This case of alleged fraud, beginning in 2010, in the Thrissur-based Karuvannur Cooperative Bank triggered a political row in Kerala two years ago.

The money laundering case stems from 16 FIRs registered by the Kerala Police (Crime Branch) in Thrissur.

The ED had carried out similar raids in August last year at six locations, including a branch of the bank located in Irinjalakuda, Thrissur. It had attached assets worth Rs 30.70 crore of a commission agent of the bank, Bijoy A K.

After the Kerala Police registered the FIR in July 2021, the registrar in their audit found 'diversions' of more than Rs 100 crore, the ED had said last year.