Karuvannur Bank scam: ED unearths Rs 200 cr benami riches

Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the money laundering angle in the Karuvannur Cooperative bank scam, has unearthed benami properties and material possessions worth Rs 200 crore, sources said. However, the agency could initiate confiscation measures only upon completion of the examination of all related documents, since the benami investments are in the names of the accused in the case, their relatives, and associates.

Cooperative sector players hope that if the central agency could recover at least half the amount of money that the investors had lost to the massive fraud, then it would enable the bank to sustain functioning.

The ED has summoned the Registrar of Cooperative Societies and conveyed its findings and the state of affairs of the Karuvannur Cooperative Bank. The investigation into the case has also brought to light the challenging situation faced by many cooperative banks -- of accepting properties and materials having low valuation, besides fake gold as collateral securities while extending crores as loans to those close to the parties that control the administrative committees of the financial institutions.

The ED now suspects that the accused have started efforts to get bail and come out of custody even before the completion of the probe, so as to destroy evidence and influence witnesses. In this scenario, it has got legal advice to submit the charge sheet in the case by this month's end itself.

Private financier P Satheesh Kumar, middleman P P Kiran, CPM local leader and Wadakkancherry municipal councillor P R Aravindakshan, and former accountant of Karuvannur Bank C K Jillse are mentioned as accused in the chargesheet. A special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) Court will consider their bail applications today. The ED will submit the investigation progress report and an affidavit before the court.

Meanwhile, ED sleuths added that CPM state committee member and former minister A C Moideen, and the Kerala Bank Vice President M K Kannan are still under the scope of investigation. The agency on Monday questioned CPM councillor Madhu Ambalapuram; P Sreejith, the brother of the main accused Satheesh Kumar; his friend Suresh Kumar, Chartered Accountant Sanil Kumar; and T S Sreelatha, the wife of the fourth accused C K Jillse.