KOCHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank loan scam questioned senior CPM leader M K Kannan on Monday. Kannan is a CPM state committe member and the vice-president of Kerala Bank.
Kannan is also the chairman of Thrissur Service Cooperative Bank. His links in the Karuvanur bank scam emerged after the ED raided the Thrissur Service Cooperative Bank as part of the probe. ED investigation had found that Satheeshkumar P, a private money lender and the prime accused in the case, was operating accounts opened in the name of various depositors with Thrissur Cooperative Bank. ED suspects that the money deposited in Thrissur Service Cooperative Bank was diverted from Karuvannur Cooperative Bank through benami loans.
It was around 10.30 am that Kannan reached the ED office in Kochi. The ED interrogation centred around his connections with Satheeshkumar.
Similarly, he was also questioned about various accounts being maintained in the Thrissur Service Cooperative Bank. ED suspects that these benami accounts are operated by Satheeshkumar for money laundering. The interrogation continued till night. ED will conduct further probe based on the statement given by Kannan.
After the ED raid on Thrissur Service Cooperative Bank, Kannan had said that he suspected political motives behind the action. He claimed that the BJP and the Congress are behind the probe. Earlier, ED had questioned former minister and CPM MLA A C Moideen. Though ED sent another notice to Moideen to appear before it, he skipped the interrogation.
I was harassed mentally: Kannan
KOCHI: CPM state committee member and Kerala Bank vice-president M K Kannan on Monday said that an ED deputy director mentally harassed him during the interrogation. He was speaking to reporters outside the ED office after undergoing interrogation for seven hours in the Karuvanur Bank scam.
“A Hindi-speaking deputy director-ranked officer put pressure on me to give statements according to their script. They threatened to send me to jail and arraign me as an accused in the case if I did not agree with them. But I told them only what I knew. I was not physically tortured.
There were also officers who behaved well with me,” he said. Kannan said that he knew prime accused Satheeshkumar for the past 10 years. “I have met Satheesh. I have had tea with him. Also we talk on phone regularly. But till now, I have not entered into any financial transactions with him. All bank transaction details sought by the ED were presented,” he said. ED officials have asked Kannan to appear again for interrogation on September 29. Kannan said that he would appear again before the investigation team.