Karuvannur bank fraud: Notice served to A C Moideen again, directs to produce tax documents also

KOCHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has served a notice to former minister and CPM leader A C Moideen again in the Karuvannur bank fraud case. The notice has asked him to appear at their office in Kochi at 11 am on Monday. The ED has also asked to produce the income tax records of ten years. The ED had initially asked him to appear today but Moideen had informed his inconvenience. Moideen informed the ED through email that it was difficult to collect the income tax documents due to continuous leave and after getting it, will appear on another date. A raid was conducted at Moideen's house in Thrissur for several hours on August 22. Following this, he was directed to appear for detailed interrogation.

Meantime, the benami clients appeared for questioning at the ED office yesterday. Karuvannur Bank ex-manager Biju Karim, P P Kiran and Anil Seth appeared at the ED office at 11 am yesterday.

The ED's investigation into Moideen has put the CPM in more trouble. One of the main reasons is that the ED will conduct a raid only if there is evidence. It was found that the Karuvannur fraud was from 2012 to 2019. Moideen was the district secretary of the party when the irregularities were noticed. A complaint was made to the then leadership about the fraud, but it was not taken seriously.

Later, a two-member investigation team reported that there had been serious irregularities, but it did not surface. Senior leaders of the district complained to the state leadership but no action was taken. Despite this complaint being raised while he was a minister, Moideen came for the inauguration of the super market of Biju Karim and C K Jils. Moideen's explanation was that he came for the inauguration as a representative of the people and that his relatives are not involved in the bank irregularities.

The ED’s finding is that Moideen is behind the crores of benami loans in the bank. The ED also clarified that the benamis took the loan by mortgaging the land of the poor without their knowledge. ED informed in a press release that property worth Rs 15 crore has been confiscated in raids conducted at six places in connection with the Karuvannur case. In short, the ED stated that district leaders of a political party were involved in the Rs 150 crore Karuvannur bank fraud.