The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has said that benami transactions in the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank took place at the instance of senior CPI-M leader and former state local self-government minister AC Moideen.
The ED, in a statement, said it has frozen bank accounts and fixed deposits worth Rs 28 lakh of senior CPI-M leader A C Moideen and his wife.
“On the instructions of certain persons, who were District level leaders and committee members of certain political parties and governed the Bank, loans were disbursed by the Bank Manager through the agent in cash to non-member benamis by mortgaging properties of poor members without their knowledge and laundered to the benefit of accused,” ED said in the statement issued on Wednesday.
“The investigation also revealed that several of these Benami loans were disbursed under the direction of Kunnamkulam MLA and CPI-M leader A.C. Moideen. Two orders were issued during the search operations, freezing bank deposits and FDs totaling Rs 28 lakh that were discovered to be in the custody of A C Moideen and his wife. Additionally, searches resulted in the confiscation of 36 properties worth a total of Rs. 15 crore that were considered to be criminal proceeds,” the ED further said in the statement.
The case is related to the alleged Rs 150-crore fraud in the CPI-M-controlled Karuvannur Cooperative Bank in Kerala’s Thrissur district.
The ED on Tuesday conducted a raid at the residence of senior CPI- M leader and former state local self-government minister AC Moideen at Wadakkancheerry in Thrissur in connection with the money laundering case related to Karuvannur Co-operative bank fraud.
Raids were also conducted at the houses of PP Kiran, CM Rahim and P Satish Kumar, and Shiju M K.