Rs 61.93 crore scam at CPM-controlled Nemom Co-operative Bank; shocking figures of fraud revealed

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Rs 61.93 crore has been swindled by duping depositors in the Nemom Service Co-operative Bank. The depth of the fraud was revealed in the audit report conducted by the co-operative department for the financial year 2023-24. It is yet to be ascertained as to how the bank suffered a loss of so much money. During this period, Rs 11.84 crore was spent as interest on fixed deposits. However, the bank received only Rs 2.73 crore as interest on loans given. The bank has been incurring losses for five years. The bank's losses increased from Rs 29.40 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 31.9 crore in 2019-20. This increased to 36.61 crore in 2020-21 and to 44.54 crore in 2021-22. It is clear that the bank was in crisis due to the failure in the utilisation of funds. This has put the investors in a crisis as a whole. For decades, the CPM-controlled bank did not have a proper person to handle the money. Those in the governing body admit that the money was handled by people including securities.

The main complaint is that the current secretary AR Rajendran and former president Pradeep Kumar went astray and gave loans to their favored ones, which put the bank in a crisis. There are also complaints against director board member Zulfiqar in this regard. It is alleged that former secretary Balachandran retired eight years ago but still intervenes and disburses loans. Most of them are party men. Many were given loans by mortgaging up to three cents of land. These lands cannot be confiscated. If the party men are asked to repay the loan, they will bring a letter from the local leaders and delay repaying it. The bank has 2,500 members.

51 complaints, 9 cases

So far, the police have received 51 complaints against the bank. Nine of these cases have been registered. Complaints regarding swindling off around Rs 25 crore have been received so far. The police said that they will take the statements of everyone and register a case.