Kerala CPI(M) Expels 4 Comrades Accused Of Defrauding Depositors Of Party Controlled Karuvannur Co-operative Bank To The Tune Of Rs.100 Cr

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) on Monday expelled four party members in connection with the Rs.100-crore Karuvannur Service Co-operative Bank scam.

The elaborate fraud involved faking signatures to create banks accounts under fictitious name, performing benami transactions to route monies to party cadre and serving collection notice to depositors receiving for amounts they never borrowed. More than 100 loan accounts were allegedly created under fictitious names and Rs.50 lakh each were credited to the accounts.

Several daily wage workers, who had applied for bank loans, never got the amount credited in their accounts, but got recovery notices for defaulting on loan repayment.

The bank staff, mostly CPM cadres, are said to have forged the addresses and documents to pocket Rs.50 crore in this manner.

T.M Mukundan, a former panchayat member, committed suicide allegedly after receiving a property attachment notice from the bank. Mukundan is said to have ₹30 lakh from co-operative bank many years back.

The cooperative bank, based out of Thirussur and managed mostly by CPM members, has a deposit of Rs. 358 crore and a credit of Rs. 320 crore. The Registrar of Cooperative Department last week dissolved the director board of the Bank and appointed an assistant registrar as administrator.

The CPM expelled bank director board president K.K. Divakaran and three other party members accused in the scam — former bank secretary and CPI(M) Porathissery local committee member T.R. Sunil Kumar, former bank manager and CPI(M) Karuvannur local committee member Biju Karim, and former accountant and CPI(M) Thoduparambu branch member C.K. Jilse.

Divakaran was serving as the bank president for over a decade.

CPM-led Kerala government has been critical of union government ’s decision to set up a Ministry of cooperate affairs.