Opposition leader in the Kerala Assembly and senior Congress leader VD Satheesan on Sunday came out against the proposed Karuvannur package, saying that the move is nothing but an attempt to rescue top CPI-M leaders, who allegedly looted investors’ money in the Karuvannur cooperative bank scam.
Satheesan alleged that through the Karuvannur package, the CPI-M and the LDF government are only aiming to rescue the top leaders of the Left party, who looted the Karuvannur bank.
“If the package is in the interest of the investors, it will be welcomed by the UDF. But through the Karuvannur package, the CPI-M and the LDF government are only aiming to rescue the top leaders of the CPI-M who looted the Karuvannur bank,” Satheesan said.
He said that it is not only the Karuvannur bank where the investors have lost their money. Investors in other banks including Kandala cooperative bank and Mutthara cooperative bank in Thiruvananthapuram and Ayanthol cooperative bank in Thrissur have also lost their deposits, added he.
Satheesan said the LDF leaders may now understand why the UDF opposed Kerala Bank. The Left government has put the cooperative sector in Kerala under the arms of the RBI.
He pointed out that if the Kerala bank was not formed, district cooperative banks could have helped the primary cooperative banks financially.
Meanwhile, the top CPI-M leadership on Saturday stepped up its troubleshooting efforts to contain the fallout of the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank scam.
It has been reported that the government was considering a bail-out package for the Karuvannur bank with support from Kerala Bank.
According to plan, the Co-operative Department will be directing primary co-operative societies in the state to invest in the crisis-hit Karuvannur bank.
Subsequently, these funds would be utilized to return the money to the depositors of the Karuvannur bank who have lost their hard earned money.
Several depositors in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday marched to Congress leader and former minister VS Sivakumar’s house at Sasthamangalam here in protest against non-payment of their deposits worth Rs 13 crore.
The protesters claimed that it was Sivakumar who convinced them to deposit their earnings in the cooperative society.