Thrissur: A press release issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding the involvement of A C Moideen, a former state minister, current legislator and CPM leader, in the malpractices detected at Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank in Kerala has dealt a big blow to the ruling left.
Earlier, Moideen had explained to the party that ED officers had recovered no incriminating documents during the raid conducted by them at his residence.
However, a day later, ED’s press release said Moideen had asked the bank to issue ‘benami’ loans and that several CPM leaders were involved in the illegal deals.
Incidentally, party leaders, including minister for higher education R Bindu who is the legislator representing the locality, had promised to refund the money of the depositors. However, nothing has transpired so far.
Meanwhile, an official source said that apart from Moideen, three other senior CPM leaders are under the ED’s scanner.
They are a former district secretariat member, a former area secretary and a top leader.
A source said, the ED received statements that one among these three leaders had received kickbacks, while the two others had aided the malpractices. The CPM leader had received a share of the money diverted from the bank by Biju Kareem and Kiran, two among the accused, it is alleged.
ED had received statements, the source added, linking Moideen to the fraud much earlier but had delayed action against the former minister. In fact, ED officers took statements from various people for over a year and had gathered documentary evidence before making their move.
All people who received loans worth over Rs 30 lakh from the bank and had a suspicious background were summoned to the ED office at Kochi for questioning.
This investigation finally led the ED officials to Moideen and others such as Raheem, Satheesh and Anil.
ED had initially launched its probe over reports that money laundering was being carried out at the bank. It was alleged that ‘benami’ loans worth over Rs 50 lakh were sanctioned by the bank and the money was invested abroad through hawala routes.
