ED names CPI(M) in Karuvannur bank fraud case

THe Enforcement board of directors named the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala and some of its top out leaders including a posing MP and MLA as accused in a refreshed chargesheet in the Karuvannur serve Cooperative Bank “fraud” case on Monday, officials aware of the matter said.In its second set of final prosecution complaints before a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Kochi, the ED named former minister and current Alathur MP K Radhakrishnan, Kunnamkulam MLA AC Moideen and MM Varghese. All three of them were district secretaries of the party in Thrissur in different periods. This final complaint named 28 more people, taking the total number of those arraigned to 83. The money laundering probe stems from at least 16 FIRs registered by the Kerala police crime branch at Thrissur in July 2021 on charges of alleged financial irregularities in the CPI(M) controlled bank worth ₹150 crore.The ED started investigating after complaints of illegal sanctioning of loans to non-members of the bank in cash without sufficient collaterals and mortgaging properties of borrowers without their knowledge purportedly at the behest of the CPI(M) district leadership in Thrissur.The loans were reportedly issued in violation of existing cooperative banking rules and regulations. The directorate’s complaint on Monday stated that the CPI(M) was listed as accused since “the disbursement of the fraudulent loans were made by the bank officials on directions of the district leadership of the party as per the information provided by the secretary and the then manager”.“The party has committed crimes such as interfering in the functioning of the Karuvannur bank, assisting the accused in fraudulently obtaining loans and thereby cheating the bank, knowingly sharing the money acquired through fraud, possessing that money with the intention of using it in the future while misrepresenting it as untainted and using that money to purchase assets,” the complaint said. “From the investigations and evidences gathered, it is clearly established that the accused persons committed the offence of money laundering as defined under section 3 of PMLA and they are liable to be prosecuted and punished under section 4 of PMLA and the attached properties involved in the money laundering are liable to be confiscated in terms of section 8(5) of PMLA,” the complaint said. The Kerala CPI(M) termed the ED’s charges against the party and its senior leaders as a ploy to “hunt” them in the backdrop of elections and as “violating all limits of democratic etiquette”.“Leaders like K Radhakrishnan, AC Moideen and MM Varghese have been named in the chargesheet as part of a political conspiracy. As district secretaries of the party, they took efforts in exposing the actual accused in the fraud and saving the bank. These leaders stood with the state government, fought against the corrupt, restored the bank’s operations and created a system to return money to depositors,” the party state secretariat said. The CPI(M) said the charges against the party leaders were certain to be dismissed in court. The party alleged that the names were added by the agency “to insult the CPI(M) and protect the interests of the RSS.”“They better remember that they are playing with fire,” the party added. Radhakrishnan, the Alathur MP, said there was a “political” decision behind the arraignment of leaders like him. “These are attempts to destroy the party and the government,” he said.