Kozhikode: A Vigilance Court has ordered a preliminary investigation into the alleged corruption in appointments made to the UDF-governed Mukkom Service Cooperative Bank. The probe should focus on 16 appointments made in the last four years to the bank, directed the court while considering a PIL filed by the former director of the bank and former UDF mandalam president N P Shamsudheen.
According to the litigant, three governing board members conspired and meddled in the recruitment process to hire candidates they favoured. He also accused the members of having accepted bribes between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 20 lakh from the candidates.
The litigation further stated the accused – former president T K Sharafudheen, and former directors O K Byju and AM Abdulla – created vacancies by promoting staff against service rules, hired candidates in excess of vacancies and spent money to regularise temporary recruits. The litigation demanded that the amount the bank lost due to recruitment irregularities be recovered from the accused.
Currently, the bank is under the administration of the senior cooperative inspector T Shoukath, as the director board was dismissed after cases were filed by candidates and A-class members of the bank in the High Court in 2022. The joint registrar had conducted an inquiry as per the court order and dismissed the director board on July 19, 2023.
Though the directors approached the High Court against this, the court upheld the action and ordered them to continue with the legal procedure to recover the amount from those responsible.
Taking the repeated accusations of malpractice and legal actions into account, the UDF district committee formed a core group to investigate the matter and take decisive actions.
Meanwhile, another inquiry is going on over an alleged irregularity in the construction of a bank head office building.
However, one of the accused, O K Baiju, rejected the allegations. “Shamsudheen wanted to be the bank president, but his efforts were in vain. Hence, he has decided to take it out on us and is now levelling baseless allegations,” said Baiju.
