#Ajayan
Kochi | The supplication from a depositor in the scandal-ridden Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank for euthanasia did send reverberations through the corridors of the LDF Government in Kerala, which has so far put up a show of diffidence. Despite the Chief Minister's recent avowal that his government would brook no tolerance for fraud, coupled with a simultaneous contention that central agency Enforcement Directorate, investigating the matter, was bent on besmirching both the administration and his party, the authorities were compelled to succumb. The Cooperative Minister had to announce that Joshi, the petitioner who had beseeched euthanasia from the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court and the Chief Minister, would receive his due relief.
While the matter in the over Rs 300-crore scam is dragging in court, Joshi is just one figure amidst a pervasive malaise of misappropriation of public funds by the bank and fortified with political patronage. For Lakshmikutty Amma, a bedridden widow who is 98 and living in close quarters to the bank, a staggering sum of around Rs 3 lakh from her toiled earnings remains ensnared in the labyrinth of the bank account books. In the twilight of her life, she is unsure of when the shackles withholding her hard-earned wealth will be unfastened. The case of her close relative Padmini is no different.
Joshi (53) in his plea said he had an investment of Rs 72 lakh in the bank. He had lost his job after an accident which left him bedridden for over seven years. Adding to his agony was that he had been recently diagnosed with a tumour in his neck. Since his plea for return of his entire amount was rejected by the bank, he finds it difficult to go forward and it would be better to let him kill himself.
The ruling CPM was further pushed to a corner with the ED in an affidavit in Kerala High Court estimating that the party, in the course of a decade, amassed deposits of over Rs 100 crore through surreptitious deals.
The suicide of a former panchayat member TM Mukundan who was asked to repay a Rs 50-lakh loan he had not availed from the bank served as a catalyst to unravel the scam in 2021. However, the matter had been brought to the notice of the CPM leadership around a decade ago by some of the employees. But the party-appointed commissions, the last of which was headed by former MP PK Biju, cared not to act against the real malefactors. Finally, the local police stepped in to probe, followed by the Crime Branch and then came the ED. Notably, a series of interrogations ensued, implicating several party leaders, including former Minister AC Moideen and Kerala Bank vice-president MK Kannan.
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Former bank secretary Sunil Kumar and manager Biju Karim, two of the accused in the case, are to turn approvers. Given their proximity to the CPM, the party has vociferously asserted that ED was engaging in unfair play by allowing the duo to serve as approvers. To add to the party woes, ED said Industries Minister P Rajeev had put pressure on Sunil Kumar to sanction illegal loans, though the Minister has denied.
Observers closely monitoring the case express bewilderment over the delay in ED presenting its subsequent chargesheet. The initial chargesheet, filed in November, implicated 54 individuals, including CPM Wadakkanchery municipal councillor PR Aravindakshan, private money lender P Satheeshkumar, bank accountant CK Jilse and one PP Kiran.
The highly publicized Government initiative for a consortium is yet to materialize. Depositors were being asked to renew their deposits. There has been some fund injection and effort to pay interests to depositors with low amounts. Some amounts were being pumped in and depositors with matured low-fund deposits were being paid their due interest. Though the bank has resumed operations, its extension counter and affiliated medical shop remain shuttered.
MV Suresh, a former employee of the bank and erstwhile CPM local committee member, told Metro Vaartha that the hearing on his plea for a CBI inquiry into the fraud had just been completed. Despite having alerted the party earlier about the illicit dealings within the bank, Suresh paid a steep price for this candour - expulsion from the party.
He now anticipates the High Court's intervention to grant access to the CBI and hopes the culpable, including those within the upper echelons of the CPM leadership, will be held accountable for their actions.
