ED to summon AC Moideen for questioning, raid unearths suspected benami deals

Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will question former minister and CPM state committee member AC Moideen on his alleged links with Karuvannur Cooperative Bank scam in Thrissur. 

As per the reports, ED will soon summon the veteran CPM leader for questioning in the case. Meanwhile, ED has frozen his fixed deposit (FD) of Rs 30 lakh by declaring it as unaccounted money. 

The raid also unearthed a connection between Moideen and those suspected to be his benamis. 

ED also collected details regarding an alleged phone conversation of former Karuvannur branch manager Biju Karim with Moideen regarding the financial transactions. It has been revealed that loans totalling crores were unlawfully sanctioned on Moideen's request.

Simultaneously, raids were also held at the residence of Anil Subhash, Sathish, Shiju and Rahim, suspected to be Benamis of Moideen. 

Raids unearthed documents, including financial investments. Furthermore, the ED says some individuals have 25 to 50 accounts in Karuvannur Bank, suspected to be be used for Benami transactions. 

Using Moideen's influence, the bank is said to have granted loans totalling Rs 45 crore to so-called benamis. Before summoning Moideen, ED would also question these individuals.

The ED action came at a time when the Cooperative Department seemingly decided to wrap up its investigation by accusing just former administrative body members and employees of the fraud.
Moideen served in the state cabinet as minister from 2016 to 2018. 

However, even before he took charge of the office, the senior officials of the cooperative department had compiled a report on the scam. When no action was taken in response to the report, the Cooperative Registrars approached the Minister directly. It has since been alleged that Moideen attempted to bury the findings and avoid taking action.