A day after a 70-year-old woman in Kerala died allegedly after a cooperative bank refused to return her life savings worth Rs 30 lakh for medical need, it came to light that it was not an one-off case.
According to a written reply given by Kerala cooperation minister V N Vasavan in the Assembly recently, about 164 cooperative banks in the state were unable to return funds to investors owing to financial crunches.
Over the last few years financial misappropriation by many cooperative banks in the state had come to light. The state government’s assurance that the depositors will not lose their investments, their promise has remained on papers only.
Since majority of the cooperative banks in Kerala were controlled by the CPM, the allegations against such banks have put the ruling party in a tight spot. The CPM also often faces allegations of misusing cooperative banks for vested political gains. There are over 1,600 cooperative banks in Kerala.
Philomina, a native of Irinjalakuda, died on Wednesday. Her husband Devassy and son alleged that the Karuvannur cooperative bank in the district rejected their repeated plea to allow them to withdraw some money from their deposits for Philomina treatment.
Last year, the same bank was in the news after an
Rs 100 crore scam came to light. As the matter triggered a row, more depositors came out with similar plights. Many like Philomina and Devassy had deposited their entire savings in cooperative banks.
Published 28 July 2022, 23:37 IST