KOCHI: As the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation in the Karuvannur Bank money laundering case entered the second stage, CPM district secretary M M Varghese was summoned to appear for interrogation on November 25. ED issued a notice to the CPM leader in this regard on Tuesday.
According to ED sleuths, Varghese had asked for a convenient date as he will be attending a state-level seminar in the coming weeks. Considering this, the investigation team decided to interrogate him on November 25. The notice was despatched via post and a copy was sent via email also. ED is awaiting Varghese’s response to the letter.
ED sources said that Varghese needed to be questioned in connection with the involvement of P R Aravindakshan, who is a CPM councillor of Wadakkancherry Municipality. Aravindakshan was arrested by ED in September. Similarly, during the first stage of the investigation, several witnesses had given statements to ED about the involvement of CPM district leadership in the Karuvannur Bank scam.
ED officials believe that CPM leadership was well aware of the scam but did not initiate any measures to stop accused persons from swindling money in the form of loans from the bank.
Earlier, ED had questioned CPM leaders, including MLA A C Moideen, and Kerala Bank vice-president M K Kannan.