India News | Karuvannur Co-op Bank Case: ED Names CPI as Accused in Chargesheet

Kochi, May 26 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate has named the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala as an accused in a fresh chargesheet filed by it in the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank "scam" case, official sources said.

This is only the second instance where the federal probe agency has named a political outfit as an accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Last year, it had named the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which was the ruling party in Delhi at the time, as an accused in the liquor "scam" case.

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Sources said the ED has named a total of 28 entities and individuals in its first supplementary chargesheet filed in this case and those arraigned include the CPI (M), its MP K Radhakrishnan, party MLA AC Moideen and others.

The CPI(M) has been named through its party secretary of Thrissur district committee.

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The Left party had earlier rejected the allegations levelled by the central probe agency, saying it would fight them legally and politically.

The prosecution complaint was filed on Monday before a special PMLA court located in Kochi. The chargesheet has been filed under various sections of the anti-money laundering law including Section 70 (offences committed by companies and vicarious liability of its promoters), they said.

With this chargesheet, the total number of accused in this case has come to around 83, the sources said. There were 55 accused in the first chargesheet filed in 2023.

The money laundering probe stems from at least 16 FIRs registered by the Kerala Police crime branch at Thrissur in July 2021 on charges of alleged funds irregularities in the CPI(M) controlled bank worth Rs 150 crore.

The agency has claimed that the total proceeds of crime in this case are worth about Rs 300 crore, the sources said.

The agency had earlier claimed its probe found that "bogus" loans were sanctioned by the cooperative bank on the "same property multiple times" without the knowledge of the members of the society.

Benami loans were sanctioned to non-members against "inflated" property valuations in the names of other members and such loan funds were "siphoned off" and "laundered" by the accused beneficiaries, the ED had earlier said.

The agency had conducted raids in this case in August-September 2023 and arrested four persons apart from attaching assets worth Rs 128 crore.

The ED had also claimed in a press statement issued in January that benami loans were disbursed by the bank on the "instructions" of the CPI(M) district committee members and the political party, in turn, received "donations" in its coffers from such beneficiaries.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)