Karuvannur bank fraud case: CPM district secretary appears before ED, says party does not have secret accounts

KOCHI: CPM Thrissur district secretary MM Varghese and Councilor PK Shajan have appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Karuvannur bank fraud case. Varghese responded that the CPM does not have any secret accounts.

Earlier, both Varghese and Shajan had sought more time to appear before the ED pointing out they would not be able to appear for questioning till April 26 as they were busy with election works. However, the ED did not accept this demand. It gave them strict instructions to appear for questioning today itself. Following this, the two reached the ED office in Kochi.

The ED had earlier found that the CPM had five secret accounts in the Karuvannur bank. It summoned Varghese to learn more details about these accounts. The ED is alleging that the commission of the benami loans was handled through these secret accounts.

PK Shajan was a member of the commission appointed by the CPM to conduct an investigation regarding the Karuvannur black money transactions. Former MP PK Biju, another member of the commission, was questioned by the ED yesterday. The questioning, which began at around 11 am, lasted till 7.30 pm. After the questioning, Biju told the media that he gave clear answers to all the questions. The ED had alleged that Biju had financial dealings with Satheesh Kumar, the main accused in the case.