Thiruvananthapuram: A massive loan fraud of over Rs100 crore has surfaced at the Karavanoor Cooperative Bank in Kerala's Thrissur district.
The fraud came to light after the local Cooperative officials conducted an inspection here.
The police has begun probe into the alleged scam and registered a case against six bank officials including the Cooperative Bank Secretary.
The 13-member committee of the CPI-M controlled bank has been disbanded.
Loan credited multiple times to wrong account
The loan amount was credited to a select few accounts multiple times using the same property documents as a mortgage. The property owners were oblivious to the mounting mortgage on their property.
The scam came to light when the property owners received notices for defaulting loan payments.
The loan amounts of 46 loans were credited to one bank account. Bank employees have been suspended.
Charges under sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC have been slapped on the accused.
Following the inspection, the Cooperative department officials registered a complaint with the police.
Speaking to the media, the complainant in the case said that he had last year brought this to the notice of higher-ups.
"The bank has a deposit base of over Rs 450 crore and of this Rs 400 crore has been given out as loans and the figure of Rs 100 crore which has now come out is so low, while the actual fraud can be more," said the complainant.
The case will be transferred to the Crime Branch as the fraud involves a sum of more than Rs 100 crore.
(With IANS inputs.)
