The Crime Branch, the Cooperation Department and the high-level committee appointed by the government have started inquiry to find out the financial sources, deposits and business deals of the accused in the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank loan scam.
It is important to trace their financial sources as the Cooperation Department is planning to attach the properties of the accused for distributing the money of the depositors.
The team is inquiring about the properties of the relatives and friends of the accused. Four private institutions registered at Irinjalakuda and a medical equipment business in Ernakulam, where the accused allegedly have shares, are under the scanner.
The department started revenue recovery procedures against the accused in the case.
The registrar of cooperative societies has asked the joint registrar to submit a report with the latest findings and details about the wealth of the accused.
The Crime Branch team unearthed a secret locker used by the accused to store the documents of illegal deals at the Karuvannur bank. Gold coins and 29 documents were found from the locker. It is suspected that multiple loans were sanctioned on these documents without the knowledge of the owner. It is reported that such documents were kept separately.
According to official information, the loss to the bank due to the scam is ₹104.1 crore. But it is reported that the actual loss may be much more than that.
The irregularities in the bank's functioning from 2014 to 2020 have come into light now. But there were allegations against the bank from 2003 itself. The department is planning a more detailed investigation.
In addition to the loan scam, the audit done at the bank had found irregularities in the functioning of supermarkets at Mapranam, Karuvannur and Moorkkanad and in the conduct of chit funds. The audit report allegedly indicated ₹1.69 crore irregularities in the functioning of the three supermarkets.
The committee appointed by the government had been asked to submit a report in 10 days. It is also checking whether the accused have any foreign deposits. There is a move to take a loan from Kerala Bank to pay back the depositors.
The Crime Branch, however, has not recorded the arrest of the four accused allegedly taken into custody.
