Karuvannur Co-op bank fraud: CPI(M) leader P K Biju appears before ED

Kochi: CPI(M) Kerala state secretariat member and former Lok Sabha MP P K Biju appeared before the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday in connection with the money-laundering probe linked to the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank in the state.

On reaching the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office here, Biju told mediapersons this was the first time he was being summoned by the Central agency in connection with the case that occurred in the bank controlled by the CPI(M).

He said he would cooperate with the probe.

Biju was a member of the inquiry committee constituted by the CPI(M) to probe the alleged fraud in the party-controlled bank.

Besides, a person who was arrested by the ED in connection with the case had reportedly given a statement against Biju.

ED had earlier filed its first charge sheet against 55 accused entities as part of its probe linked to the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank.

This case of alleged fraud, beginning in 2010, in the Thrissur-based CPI(M)-controlled bank has triggered a political row in the state.

The ED has said its probe found that "on the instructions of certain persons, who were district-level leaders and committee members of certain political party and governed the bank, loans were disbursed by the bank manager through the agent in cash to non-member benamis by mortgaging properties of poor members without their knowledge and laundered to the benefit of the accused."

Bogus loans were sanctioned by the bank on the same property multiple times without the knowledge of the society members.

Investigation has also revealed that benami loans were sanctioned to non-members against inflated property valuations in the names of other members and such loan funds were siphoned off and laundered by the accused beneficiaries, the agency had said in a statement earlier.