Thrissur: A high-level probe is being ordered to look into the initiative taken by a cooperative bank to take over the liabilities of a benami loan of Rs 4.5 crore from the scam-hit Karuvannur Cooperative Bank.
The loan in the name of a CPM leader was taken by pledging the landed property of an industrialist.
The loan was taken over by another bank, governed by the CPM, in the adjoining area. As reported earlier the Karuvannur bank was run by a governing council comprising CPM members.
The probe is now being ordered into the matter following a complaint filed by BJP local leadership with the cooperative registrar and joint registrar. The allegations have come up against a CPM leader who is holding a key position in the party's local area set-up.
The liabilities including interest had gone up to a whopping Rs 4.5 crore. With the financial fraud of Karuvannur bank coming in the public domain one after the other, the CPM leader came under the scanner.
Fearing that the details of the benami loan might come out in the public, the leader got the liabilities transferred to another cooperative bank in the area. The leader already has liabilities worth Rs 50 lakh in this bank.
Along with Karuvannur bank, this cooperative bank too has been mired in various controversies. With dues mounting hugely, the bank had stopped disbursing loans last year. Despite such a huge crisis, the bank authorities showed the 'magnanimity' to take over the CPM leader's multi-crore liabilities, thus raising several eyebrows and allegations as well.
Like Karuvannur, this bank too has been governed by the CPM for the past several decades.
CPM governing council to get reprieve, no case registered
Even though the involvement of the former governing council of the Karuvannur bank led by CPM leaders in the financial fraud is amply clear, a decision has been taken to avoid registration of case against them for the time being.
With the arrested employees of the bank giving a unanimous statement against the governing council, the Crime Branch at one stage had decided to register cases against council members including CPM leaders.
However, clear instructions have been received from the higher ups to freeze the proceedings and not to register cases. The crime branch had arraigned six persons as accused including bank employees and middlemen. Of these two are still absconding.
There is huge political pressure to get the CPM leaders out of the case by portraying that the fraud was committed by the accused at their personal level.
