It is not the people who siphoned and laundered an incredible amount of money under the guise of cooperative banks who have been struggling, but the enforcement officers who have been working hard to track them down for days. Those who tried to evade the law are literally giving trouble to the investigators. The colossal fraud and manipulations that took place in the Karuvannur Co-operative Bank have raised great concern among the people about the security of investment in the state co-operative sector. Investigations show that the bank administrators themselves are leading all the frauds. It is reported that only the tip of the iceberg of the frauds being carried out by benami and fraudsters has come to light. There are indications that more than five hundred crores of fraud was committed in Karuvannur Cooperative Bank alone and the investigation will reach more leaders. On Monday, ED raids were conducted at eight locations, including the Ayyanthole Cooperative Bank. This series of raids was to further corroborate the evidence collected earlier by the officials. Apart from the banks, the three offices of the deed writers who helped in clearing the documents were also searched the other day. The information coming out about the black money transactions carried out by the main suspect in the Karuvannur scam is shocking. He has done huge transactions through cooperative banks including Karuvannur.

Co-operative banks in the state were a model for the whole country. Even when political extremism took hold, the cooperative movement held a great place among the people. Every cooperative bank has gained a place in the minds of the people as a financial institution of their own within their reach. There are many co-operative banks which are still maintaining high tradition but the news coming out related to co-operative banks including Karuvannur has made people generally worried. Who can sleep with peace of mind when they know that the governing body can extort crores by making fake applications in the name of members? There are many reasons why issues have worsened in the present. The most important of which is the protection obtained at the political level. These incidents will testify to what the result will be if the corrupt treat the cooperative banks as their own institutions and make them the scapegoats of all misdeeds.

Co-operative banks in the state have high deposits just like the public sector banks. The government should understand the consequences of frequent scams driving investors away from cooperative banks. The assets of co-operative banks are people's hard-earned money. Any financial institution will collapse if its credibility is damaged. The government along with the ED should take the initiative to bring all the criminals to justice, without letting that happen.