THRISSUR: An alleged Rs 100-crore fraud has been reported at the Karuvannur Co-operative Society Bank in Irinjalakuda here. The police registered a case against six bank officials including secretary and have launched a probe. The joint registrar of the cooperative department has sought an explanation from the administrative committee of the bank, ruled by the CPM.
The fraud came to light after the bank sanctioned Rs 94 as loans recently. It was found that of that sum, Rs 21 crore was given to one person, named Kiran, but through 46 different accounts. It is alleged Kiran had pocketed the rest of the amount as well.After several people raised doubts about the bank’s functioning, an audit was conducted at the bank and the charges were found to be true. It was also found that the loans were sanctioned on the property pledged by local customers without their knowledge and the loan amount was credited multiple times to the selected accounts.
Bank secretary T R Sunilkumar is a local leader of the CPM while the committee has other members owing allegiance to the party. Congress and BJP have sought an investigation into the issue. BJP district president K K Aneeshkumar alleged Rs 300 crore was disbursed as loans through various accounts.