Cooperative bank frauds: Thrissur’s BJP’s trump card

The BJP seems to have discovered a powerful political weapon in the fight for the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat: cooperative bank frauds. And this one might send shockwaves across Kerala.

 

The party has been actively organizing depositors of other cooperative banks and societies in the region, even outside of the well-known Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank cases. In an attempt to broaden its campaign, the party has been planning rallies and taking complaints to higher levels of government.

The party has established a special section called the “BJP Sahakarana Cell” whose mission is to expose the dubious practises of some cooperative organizations. M V Suresh, a former member of the CPM local committee and a former worker of the Karuvannur Service Co-operative Bank, is at the forefront of this movement.

In his capacity as the cell’s leader, Suresh has been organizing individuals who are fighting to get their savings from a few local cooperative banks freed. In addition to addressing deposit-related concerns, the cell seeks to hold authorities responsible for any misappropriation of funds.

Suresh said, “Across five cooperative institutions, there are 75,000 depositors who are in distress.”

“We are leading the charge to bring them together and fight for their rights. The hard-earned money of Karuvannur depositors would be refunded, according to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance. The impacted clients now feel hopeful thanks to this assurance.”

Puthur Service Bank Ltd., Parappukkara Panchayat Scheduled Caste Service Society, Thrissur Urban Cooperative Bank, and Kuttanellur Service Cooperative Bank are the other five cooperative organizations that Suresh highlighted in addition to Karuvannur.

According to Suresh, the BJP-led NDA would gain politically from the cooperative sector reform campaign “not just in Thrissur, but across the state.”

“Reaching out to 2,25,000 voters entails engaging with the families of 75,000 depositors,” he said.

It’s important to remember that these organizations are mostly connected to the UDF or the LDF. These fronts tend to be preferred by their stakeholders. Suresh Gopi, the BJP candidate from Thirissur, would get a big boost in the polls if we can persuade them to support the NDA, which has promised to redress their grievances and bring the guilty parties accountable.

U P Joseph, a member of the Thrissur CPM secretariat, responded to the accusations by claiming that the BJP was politicising the matter in order to weaken the cooperative sector, which is not something the party is particularly involved in.

“The CPM is actively working to address the issues at the Karuvannur bank and expedite the return of deposits, despite obstacles created by Central agencies,” he said.

Joseph, a leader of the CITU at the state level, emphasized the importance of the Left in fostering the cooperative movement in the state. “It is regrettable that certain Left members’ unethical behavior is damaging the entire industry,” he said.

Anil Akkara, a former Congress MLA, said that the CPM was committing “brazen dacoity by the CPM,” not only anomalies.

In addition, he said that the BJP and CPM conspired to protect the true offenders, noting that no significant CPM figure had yet been taken into custody in connection with the Karuvannur case.

For CPM officials, the Karuvannur bank was a significant source of black money. Anil said, “It was more than just a case of financial mismanagement.”

“The Karuvannur scam will affect the entire state.” However, because of a covert agreement between the BJP and the CPM, the fraud inquiry has halted.

He said that since neither the NDA nor the LDF responded to the incident with any real action, people had lost faith in them.

CPI district secretary K K Valsaraj rejected Anil’s accusation, stating that the Karuvannur problem will not significantly affect the elections.

“The affected stakeholders have been reached out to by the LDF,” he said. “The Karuvannur bank is making efforts to address the problems and offer assistance to the depositors.”

The path of Karuvannur

A complaint was submitted at the Irinjalakuda Police Station on July 14, 2021, by Sreekala E S, the bank’s secretary-in-charge, bringing the financial scandal at Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank in Thrissur to light. She said that the bank, which was founded in 1921 as an agricultural cooperative, had been defrauded of around Rs 100 crore by the previous secretary and staff.

Notably, on January 16, 2019, M V Suresh, a former bank employee, filed a written complaint to the state cooperative department’s district joint registrar about financial irregularities. Though an investigation was carried out, the report’s findings were not used to inform any major decisions.

On July 21, 2021, the case was moved to the Crime Branch due to the extent of the fraud. On August 2, 2021, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) subsequently started legal action in accordance with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

A number of people have been taken into custody by the ED, including former bank secretary Sunil Kumar T R, head of the Wadakancherry municipal health standing committee and member of the CPM Aravindakshan P R, and former bank senior accountant C K Jils. In connection with the issue, the Central agency has also questioned former MP P K Biju and CPM minister A C Moideen.

Significant errors in the bank’s loan approval process were found by the ED. It has come to light that the bank, without proper paperwork or sufficient security, approved loans to non-members by using fictitious addresses on membership applications.