Major irregularities in Adoor Service Cooperative Bank under rule of CPM; party leader's wife reveals

PATHANAMTHITTA: Ponthamara Pillai, president of the Adoor Service Cooperative Bank and wife of former MLA R Unnikrishna Pillai, has announced her resignation in protest against alleged major irregularities in the bank, which is under the rule of the CPM. She revealed that financial irregularities worth Rs 75 lakh were detected in the bank. She said she decided to resign because she could not support corruption.

"There were no deposits in the bank when I took charge as president. I carried out my responsibilities sincerely as assigned by the party and tried my best to improve the situation. It was found that pending dues were not collected during the tenure of the previous president," Ponthamara Pillai said.

"I had filed a complaint after finding discrepancies while examining the accounts. In the presence of the Assistant Registrar (AR) and the party area secretary, a review of the accounts reportedly revealed a shortage of Rs 75 lakh. It was also found that loans, which the bank was not eligible to issue, had been sanctioned by the former president and the administrative officer. Around 15 such cases were identified as illegal. There was also misuse of documents. Later, I arranged funds and proceeded to file these cases. My signature was recorded in the minutes book. I am resigning because a no-confidence motion has been brought against me. I will inform the party about this. Party members themselves have moved the no-confidence motion against me without informing the party,” Ponthamara Pillai added.