Kerala BJP President K Surendran, on Monday, alleged government-sponsored corruption in the state cooperative banking sector.
In a statement here on Monday, Surendran said, “That is the reason why the chief minister and the CPI-M secretary are working round-the-clock to protect the looters.”
He alleged that looters are under the protection of the crime branch and the police which protected them in the Karuvannur bank scam and allowed them to leave the country.
Reacting to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s assurance to those who deposited money in the cooperative banks that all their money would be refunded, Surendran asked him to “at first arrest the fraudsters who siphoned off the depositors’ money and take action to recover the money from them”.
“CPI-M state secretary MV Govindan says the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is trying to destroy the cooperative sector. Govindan should not forget that it was the CPI-M investors, who lost their money in Kauvannur bank, that demanded an ED probe in this case. While the witnesses and plaintiffs in the case support the ED, only the predatory CPI-M leaders fear the ED,” Surendran said.
Stating that many other banks in Thrissur have noticed scams similar to the one that took place in Karuvannur Cooperative Bank, the BJP leader said, “The days are not far when CPI-M cadres will take to the streets against party leaders who are money-grubbers and fraudsters.”
Meanwhile, BJP state vice-president Sobha Surendran also questioned the chief minister’s statement that not even a single penny of depositors would be lost in the cooperative banks. “The chief minister said not even a single penny of the depositors would be lost, but he should answer what those who have already lost the money they deposited in Karuvannur bank should do,” Sobha said.
The situation in Karuvannur is that even if you fall ill, you won’t get your money back, she said.