Kochi: Shedding more light into the depth and extent of the financial scam in the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) submitted seven findings of its investigation before the court.
The findings point to how the undue influence of political parties and certain individuals in the bank’s administration led to the scam. The remand report, filed by the ED, states that the first four accused in the case, registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, identified as P Satheesh Kumar, P P Kiran, P R Aravindakshan, and C K Jills, indulged in benami loan fraud and money laundering.
The key findings of the investigation agency are listed below:
• The accused organized themselves to commit an offense that pushed ordinary people into financial crisis and suicide.
• It was P R Aravindakshan, a local CPM leader and councillor of the Vadakkancherry municipality, who plotted the scheme to swindle money from the cooperative bank.
• Aravindakshan even issued death threats to those who discovered the fraud and also to those who offered information to the ED.
• The deep involvement of Aravindakshan in hatching the conspiracy and executing the crime is clearly evident.
• The digital records of phone conversations between Aravindakshan and key accused P Satheesh Kumar, who is a private financier, and his brother P Sreejith point to the collective involvement of these persons in the scam.
• The digital records also point to the involvement of certain personalities from the high echelons of society in the scam.
• The report on an investigation by the cooperative registrar under Rule 65 details the various offenses committed by the accused.
• The accused swindled huge amounts as loans without the knowledge of the bank’s administrative council and also without the consent and sign of the bank president.
• A verification of documents reveals that several loans, each worth Rs 50 lakh, had been granted back-to-back merely on the basis of a report by an ordinary bank employee.
• Loans were granted to several people at the same time on the security of a single property. These amounts, however, were not credited to the bank accounts of those who were issued these loans.
• The bank employees have given statements that such loans were granted on a direction received from the ‘bank headquarters.’
• The loans thus granted were several times higher than the actual market value of the property given as security.
• Of the Rs 24.56 crore received as loans to the benami institutions of P Kiran, Rs 14 crore was handed over to P Satheesh Kumar, and the third accused, P R Aravindakshan, was given Rs 50 lakhs as a fixed deposit.
• An amount of Rs 5.06 crore was embezzled using the names of nine people who had close links with the bank accountant, C K Jills.
• The ED also unearthed a shortage of stocks worth Rs 1.50 crore in the Karuvannur cooperative supermarket that was run under the supervision of C K Jills.
• P R Aravindakshan served as the kingpin of the racket by bringing together all the accused and offering advice to them.
• The ED has also received statements regarding the VIPs who offered protection to Aravindakshan.
