Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday lashed out at Central investigation agencies over the prime accused in a cooperative bank scam case turning into approvers. In an apparent reference to two of the accused in the scam at the Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank recently expressing their willingness to become prosecution witnesses, he said this was being done as part of a plan to target political opponents. He was speaking after inaugurating the ninth Kerala Cooperative Congress here.
“Recently, some illegal activities happened in an institution. The State government went ahead with stringent measures against the corrupt elements. Then the Central agencies came into the picture and a person who had intervened in such a way as to cause disrepute to the institution was turned into an approver. Who are they trying to save by turning wrongdoers into approvers? The intention is to use them to politically target some people. Naturally, they will be ready to do such things in return for being protected from the investigation,” he said.
‘Wrong tendencies’
Mr. Vijayan said greed had led to corrupt practices in several sectors, including the cooperative sector. Though Kerala’s cooperative sector had been a model for other States, there had been some wrong tendencies of late which can affect not just the particular institution, but can dent the credibility of the entire sector.
“Individual attempts at corruption are not easy to execute in the cooperative sector. But, over a period of time, some groups of people can tend towards such unwelcome tendencies. The State government has always tried to bring the wrongdoers to book, while taking steps to protect the institution. Such actions are required to protect the credibility of the entire sector. The government will not spare those involved in corrupt practices, whichever side they belong to,” he said.
Timely audits
He said the department was currently implementing safeguards to prevent those who are part of the administration of cooperatives from obtaining loans for themselves or for their relatives through wrongful means. Audits are being conducted in a timely manner. Cases of a criminal nature will be handed over to the police department. The Crime Branch will also come into the picture in cases which it is required, he said.
