In a significant development in the probe into the Karuvannur Co-operative Bank scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) provisionally attached assets worth Rs 57.75 crore belonging to various individuals involved in the Cooperative Bank money-laundering case

The ED said in a statement on Friday that the attached assets include 117 immovable properties consisting of land and buildings in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and movable properties including 11 vehicles. Fixed deposits and credit balances in 92 bank accounts of individuals found actively involved in the offence of money laundering, have also been attached,  the ED said

The properties of Anil Kumar K B, Abdul Nazar, Abdul Gafoor, Gopalakrishnan, Pradeep K K, Rajeevan CM, Sunil Kumar KD, Amina Paliparambil, Paulson AJ, Ramesh PV, Davi Varghese, Anil Subash, Jilse CK, Satheeshkumar P and Aravindakshan PR were attached. Among these, Jilse C K, Satheeshkumar P and Aravindakshan P R are accused in the case and  others are loan defaulters.

A provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to attach the assets had been issued by the ED on Friday.

The ED had earlier attached properties worth Rs 30 crore including a resort in Thekkady belonging to Bijoy, who had availed of illegal loans from the bank and invested the money in the resort. Total properties worth Rs 87.75 crore have been attached by the ED  in this case so far.

The ED launched a probe into the  Karuvannur bank scam worth Rs 150 crore based on the FIR registered by the Kerala Police. The scam came to light in 2021 and the Crime Branch has registered more than 16 FIRs.

The ED probe in the case has revealed that loans were illegally sanctioned and disbursed to the accused and .their benamis from the bank without any sufficient collaterals.

Meanwhile, the ED has  revealed that a committee of CPI-M had played a key role in sanctioning  benami loans in Karuvannur bank without any sufficient collaterals as part of a systematic conspiracy. Such  distribution of illegal loans led to the massive loan scam in the bank, the ED said.