The factional feud in the Kerala State Cooperative Consumers Federation (Consumerfed) is set to worsen with Satheesan Pacheni, board member and convenor of a three-member internal inquiry committee, alleging here on Tuesday that the apex cooperative had lost about Rs.50 crore over the last five years in corruption, splurge, and inefficiency.
However, president of the cooperative Joy Thomas denied the allegations and claimed that the report was not accepted by the Board of Directors, which met here on Tuesday for the first time after Tomin J. Thachankary was removed from the post of Managing Director.
“It is a copy of the report by Mr. Thachankary and the other members of the inquiry committee were not consulted before the report was prepared,” he said. R. Rajashekharan, who is on the Consumerfed board and is a member of the committee backed Mr. Thomas’ stand and pointed out that the inquiry committee had met only once for fixing the terms of reference. However, no inquiry had been conducted, he said.
Mr. Pacheni said that his inquiry report was based on facts but did not divulge the details as the report was to be discussed at the next board meeting. The report had named 15 employees and recommended action against them, he said.
He called for a more thorough inquiry into the deals and dealings in Consumerfed to bring out the truth.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Pacheni was prevented from entering the Consumerfed office by members of the INTUC who shouted slogans in favour of Mr. Thomas. It was after police intervention that he was allowed to enter the office.
Meanwhile, protest action by employees of the cooperative raising various demands ended on Tuesday after the Board of Directors accepted some of the demands and promised to consider others favourably at a meeting of trade union leaders on September 30.
