The Enforcement Directorate on Monday submitted a chargesheet in a special court in Kochi in connection with the 2021 Karuvannur Cooperative Bank money laundering case, naming the ruling CPI(M) as an accused along with eight party leaders, including Lok Sabha MP K Radhakrishnan, former state minister A C Moitheen and former Thrissur district secretary M M Varghese.
This is only the second instance where the federal probe agency has named a political outfit as an accused under the PMLA. Last year, it had named the AAP as an accused in the liquor “scam” case.
With this, the total number of accused in the case now stands at 83. The central agency said that the accused made a monetary gain of Rs 180 crore through the alleged fraud.
CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan called the chargesheet a “political conspiracy” and said that the case will be fought legally as well as politically. “Party had taken action against those who took the wrong approach on the bank issue. But the ED foisted the case on three leaders who had served as party district secretaries. People of Kerala will give a fitting reply to the ED, an agency engaged in spreading lies,’’ he said.
The State Crime Branch police, which had initially investigated the case, said that an estimated Rs 300 crore had been siphoned off by functionaries from the CPI(M)-controlled bank. Later, the ED initiated a probe under the PMLA and confiscated assets worth Rs 128 crore.
The ED alleged that the three leaders — Radhakrishnan, Moitheen and Varghese — during their stints as the district secretaries of the CPI(M), assisted the other accused persons to avail illegal loans and a certain amount from the illegal loans was channelised to the party fund. Two party committees were controlling the bank’s governing body. All three were at various stages party district secretaries in Thrissur.
According to the chargesheet, a bank employee, Biju M K, who was made an approver, confessed before a magistrate court that the CPI(M) district committee members, including the secretary, had put pressure on the bank authorities to grant illegal loans and obtain a certain part it from borrowers as contribution to the CPI(M) fund.
Radhakrishnan, who had served as party’s district secretary from 2016 to 2018, had knowingly assisted the accused persons, who availed illegal loans, for raising funds for CPI(M) from the illegal loan amount, the chargesheet said.
During Varghese term as CPI(M) district secretary from 2018 to 2020, the ED said, bank accounts were opened illegally against the by-laws of the society for collecting funds from benami loanees and used for purchasing immovable property for the party.
Moitheen had served as the party’s district secretary from 2011 to 2016 and, as per the chargesheet, he also assisted the accused persons who availed illegal loans, for raising funds for the CPI(M) from illegal loan amounts.
“… CPI(M) has collected illegal amounts from the benami borrowers of the bank as commission for arranging such illegal loans which is nothing but proceeds of crime. The amount collected from illegal loans were utilized for their local expenses, election meetings, purchase of unaccounted lands and buildings for party office, party office furniture etc,” the chargesheet said.
“… similar undisclosed accounts were being maintained by the CPI(M) party at every level in every district in a decentralized manner. Therefore CPI(M) party is indulged in the process of money laundering and thereby CPI(M) party is guilty of the offence of money laundering as specified under Section 3 which is punishable under section 4 of the said Act,” it said.
CWC member and senior party leader in Kerala Ramesh Chennithala questioned why the central agency did not arrest the three leaders. “This shows the deal between CPI(M) and Sangh Parivar in Thrissur, where the BJP won in the last Lok Sabha elections. The BJP is blackmailing the CPI(M) using the ED case,’’ he said.
