The Enforcement Directorate logo. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth ₹30.7 crore of Bijoy A.K., commission agent of the Karuvannur Service Co-operative Bank, in connection with its probe into the multi-crore loan scam in Thrissur.
The assets were seized under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, in fraud and cheating case. The attached assets include 20 immovable properties consisting of land and building in Kerala, two vehicles (Innova and Audi), and cash seized from his house (₹3.4 lakh and foreign currency equivalent to ₹2.08 lakh). The balance in nearly 57 bank accounts of Bijoy and his firms was ₹35.86 lakh, according to an official release.
Loan sanctioned illegally
Bijoy was illegally sanctioned loan to the tune of ₹26.6 crore in cash without any collateral following a conspiracy hatched by the secretary and committee members of the bank since 2010, it said.
The ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of first information reports (FIRs) registered by Kerala Police under Section 420 of IPC. The Crime Branch had registered more than 16 FIRs in Thrissur related to the fraud.
Multiple bogus loans
The money-laundering investigation carried out so far has revealed that multiple bogus loans were sanctioned by the bank on the same property without the knowledge of the society members. The loan amounts were disbursed in cash and huge cash deposits were found in the books of the…
