Kerala HC asks ED to expedite probe into Karuvannur cooperative bank scam case

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to expedite its investigation into the multi-crore scam connected with the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank.

Justice Devan Ramachandran expressed displeasure over the delay in completing the probe into the case in which the ED has claimed that many of the accused are office-bearers and members of the ruling political party CPI(M).

Meanwhile, the agency told the court that the judicial intervention in the investigation was the cause of the delay. A court had stayed the interrogation of the Cooperative Registrar, it said.

The ED also informed the court that an investigation is underway into the transactions of 12 other cooperative banks in the state.

The court's observation came on a plea filed by one of the accused challenging the ED's provisional attachment order and seeking de-freezing of his bank accounts.

The ED had earlier claimed before the high court that the irregularities in the Karuvannur Cooperative Bank were committed at the behest of leaders of the ruling CPI(M) in the state.

The agency had earlier claimed that its probe had found that 'on the instructions of certain persons, who were district-level leaders and committee members of a 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.' This case of alleged fraud, beginning in 2010, at the Thrissur-based Karuvannur Cooperative Bank had triggered a political row in Kerala two years ago.

The money laundering case stems from 16 FIRs registered by the Kerala Police (Crime Branch) in Thrissur.

After the Kerala police registered the FIR in July 2021, the registrar in their audit found 'diversions' of more than Rs 100 crore, the ED had said in 2022.