E-Paper
ED raids CPI-controlled cooperative bank in Kerala
An audit by the state’s cooperative department had found that the assets of the bank had depreciated by ₹101 crore due to years of mismanagement by the administrators by indulging in loan fraud
Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out raids at a CPI-controlled cooperative bank and the premises of its former office-bearers in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram district on Wednesday, following reports of financial irregularities at the bank, said officials familiar with the matter.
The raids began early Wednesday morning at the Kandala Service Cooperative Bank near Kattakada in the presence of paramilitary personnel.
Officials aware of the matter said the inspections of the central agency were carried out at homes and premises of former bank secretaries, collection agents, and former bank president and CPI leader N Bhasurangan.
An audit by the state’s cooperative department had found that the assets of the bank had depreciated by ₹101 crore due to years of large-scale mismanagement by the administrators by indulging in loan fraud, exaggeration of land put up as collateral and unauthorised recruitment of employees.
Scores of people, who have invested in the bank and not gotten their deposits upon maturity, have filed complaints with the local Maranallur police.
The ED raids at the Kandala bank have come a few days after the agency submitted the first chargesheet before the court in the loan fraud case at the CPI(M)-controlled Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank in Thrissur district. A local CPI(M) councillor is among several accused arrested in the case.
