On Saturday, Union Minister V Muraleedharan refuted the accusation made by the CPI(M), the party in power, that the inquiry into the multi-billion Karuvannur bank scam was an intentional ploy by the Centre to target Kerala’s cooperative sector.
He claimed that although some scammers stole almost Rs 150 crore from ordinary people who had invested it in the Karuvannur Cooperative Bank, the chief minister, other members of his cabinet, and the state secretary of the CPI (M) were defending it.
Speaking to the media at this location, the BJP leader also questioned why A C Moideen, a senior CPI (M) politician and MLA, was unwilling to appear before the Enforcement Directorate despite multiple summonses if he had done nothing illegal.
Why was even the former minister hesitant to respond to the central investigating agency’s inquiries? He queried.
Muraleedharan forewarned that anyone who stole the poor’s life savings would not escape punishment.
He disputed the CPI (M)’s claims that an ED officer had threatened and beaten a witness in the case in order to get him to identify key party leaders as accused.
In conjunction with its investigation into the current political scuffle in Kerala over the Rs 150 crore Karuvannur Cooperative bank fraud, the ED questioned CPI(M) leader Moideen for more than nine hours on September 11.
The lawsuit concerns suspected fraud at the Karuvannur Cooperative Bank, which is under the administration of the CPI(M).
The ED had already issued freeze orders against Moideen, the former Kerala Minister for Cooperation and Industries, and his wife’s bank and fixed deposits of Rs 28 lakh, in addition to the seizure of 36 assets valued at Rs 15 crore — ‘proceeds of crime’ in this case.
The registrar discovered ‘diversions’ of more than Rs 100 crore during their audit after the Kerala Police filed the FIR in July 2021.
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