New Delhi: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Tuesday attached assets of N Bhasurangan and his family members in connection with a money laundering case. The agency attached assets worth more than Rs 1 crore linked to the expelled Kerala CPI leader.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities in the Kandala Service Cooperative Bank inThiruvananthapuram's Maranalloor during Bhasurangan's tenure as its president. The politician and his son Akhiljith J B were arrested by the central agency in November last year in Kochi on charges of irregularities in loans given out by the lender.
A provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has been issued to attach the assets worth Rs 1.02 crore, a statement by the ED said. In the statement, the ED said "several irregularities" were found in the management of the bank and alleged misappropriation of funds worth Rs 57 crore was also detected.
"The bank suffered massive asset impairment due to its mismanagement and irregularities," it said. Bhasurangan, according to the agency, was the overall in-charge of the bank as president, who played a "key role" in sanctioning various unauthorised loans running into several crores to himself and his relatives by remortgaging the same property multiple times as collateral security. The ED had conducted raids in this case last year after which Bhasurangan, a local CPI leader, was expelled from the Left party's primary membership.
The agency had said last year that the bank had not initiated any recovery proceedings in respect of the overdue loans availed by these family members and relatives of Bhasurangan.
(With PTI inputs.)
