300 depositors suffer loss of 13 crore invested in cooperative society; investors stage protest in front of V S Sivakumar’s house

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Investors staged protests in front of former health minister V S Sivakumar's house. The people who had deposited money in the Unemployed Social Welfare Cooperative Society in Thiruvananthapuram are protesting in front of Sivakumar's house in Sasthamangalam. The complaint is that around 300 investors have lost Rs 13 crore.

The investors in branches of Vellayani, Valiyathura and Killipalam are protesting. The protestors alleged that the society belongs to Ashokan of Karakulam, who is benami of Sivakumar.

Meantime, Sivakumar reacted to the protests staged by the depositors. He alleged that they are deliberately trying to stain him. The society was inaugurated by Sivakumar last year. A report that came in September mentioned major irregularities in the cooperative societies of the state.

The report said out of the 272 cooperative societies where the irregularities took place, the UDF is running the administration in 202. Most of the scams are in Thiruvananthapuram. The irregularities have taken place in 63 societies led by the LDF and seven by the BJP.

There are mainly 16255 cooperative societies functioning in Kerala. In 272 of these cooperative societies, the registrar's investigation found various types of irregularities. Most of the frauds occurred in cooperative societies ruled by the LDF in Pathanamthitta. Irregularities were found in 25 societies.