New Delhi/Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate alleged Saturday that the CPI(M) in Kerala was holding proceeds of money laundering, as it attached a land parcel and bank deposits worth Rs 73 lakh of the political party in a probe linked to the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank "scam".
The agency is probing allegations of crores being siphoned at the CPI(M)-controlled Karuvannur Cooperative Bank in Thrissur. Assets worth Rs 28.65 crore of various individuals and entities linked to the case have also been attached by the federal agency after a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was issued. Total attachments in this case till date is Rs 117.78 crore, the agency said.
Official sources said the party may be named as an accused in the next supplementary chargesheet to be filed in this case. If so, it will be the second political party to be arraigned as accused in a money laundering investigation, after the Aam Aadmi Party. AAP has recently been named by the ED in the Delhi excise policy case.
The CPI(M) vehemently denied the charges of wrongdoing and money laundering. The attached assets include 18 immovable properties, valued at Rs 28.65 crore, consisting of lands and buildings in Kerala of the beneficiaries of the "scam", including an immovable property worth Rs 10 lakh registered in the name of a district secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for a party office, the ED said in a statement.
The attachment also includes eight movable properties, including a credit balance of Rs 63.62 lakh in eight "undisclosed" bank accounts of the CPI(M) local area committees in Thrissur, it added.
The agency claimed that the CPI(M) received these funds from the beneficiaries as donations through the governing body and the party is "in possession of proceeds of crime" which has been invested in the purchase of immovable properties and credited to its five bank accounts in the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank Ltd. The bank is promoted by the party.
The CPI(M) rejected the ED charges, saying it would legally and politically fight any move by the agency to arraign it in the case linked to the alleged multi-crore Karuvannur bank scam. Party state secretary M V Govindan alleged that the ED was trying to make opposition parties and their leaders accused in various cases due to political reasons.
He also accused the central agency of attempting to create a smokescreen as it had failed to collect any evidence against the party. The ED believes that the land parcel attached by it was meant for the CPI(M) party office and was purchased using alleged kickbacks from the loanees or beneficiaries of the loans sanctioned by the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank.
The agency has relied on the "confessional" statements of at least two accused in this case who claimed in their statements recorded before a judicial magistrate that the purported irregularities in the bank were orchestrated at the behest of CPI(M) Thrissur district committee leaders. The ED alleged that "bogus loans" were sanctioned by the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank on the same property multiple times without the knowledge of members of the society.
"Investigation found benami loans were sanctioned to non-members against inflated property valuations in the names of other members and such loan funds were siphoned off and laundered by the accused beneficiaries," it said, adding that the loan amounts were disbursed in cash to avoid a money trail.
"Such benami and illegal loans were sanctioned at the behest of the secretary and the governing body of the society in connivance with the then-bank manager, at the behest of the Thrissur district committee, CPI(M). "In return, the Thrissur district committee, CPI(M), collected money in the form of donations and salary cut from the beneficiaries and society committee members into their undisclosed and illegally opened bank accounts in the same society," the agency said.
These funds, according to the ED, were utilised for the purchase of land worth Rs 10 lakh by the secretary of the Thrissur district committee of the CPI(M) for the construction of the party office, which has now been attached as proceeds of crime. Govindan said it has been a decades-long practice of registering the office and other assets of party units in the name of the respective district committees.
What role does the party have in the office constructed by one of its local committees, he asked. But the ED is now trying to tarnish the image of the CPI(M) in the name of the assets of one such party unit, Govindan claimed. "We will fight it legally and politically. We haven't got any notice in this regard so far," he told reporters.
The ED filed a chargesheet in this case against 55 accused entities in November last year. The money laundering case stems from 16 FIRs registered by the Kerala Police (Crime Branch) in Thrissur in 2010. Four people have been arrested by the ED in this case so far.
