Senior official R Rajesh has been suspended as the Managing Director of the Kerala State Cashew Workers Apex Industrial Co-operative Society (CAPEX) over alleged financial irregularities in the purchase of raw cashew nuts from abroad.
The findings in a report by the state Financial Inspection Wing in this regard was of "serious nature" which demanded further action and so the officer was suspended with immediate effect pending an inquiry, a government order said.
The Left government also ordered a detailed probe by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau into the alleged irregularities in purchasing the raw cashew during the year 2018 and 2019 misusing a then government order, it said.
The Financial Inspection Wing prepared the inquiry report based on its inspections in the head office and factories of CAPEX in Kollam district, popularly known as the cashew capital of the southern state, during April-June last year in the wake of a series of complaints.
Among several other charges, the FIW found that the Rajesh was responsible for causing huge financial loss to the CAPEX by purchasing low quality raw cashew nut from abroad and neighbouring states under the garb of a government order which insisted to buy it directly from small scale farmers, the government order detailed.
Rajesh Ramakrishnan, managing director of the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation, is given the additional charge of CAPEX MD till an order is issued in this regard, it added. CAPEX is one of the two state agencies and the only one co-operative entity engaged in the cashew processing sector in Kerala.
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