Kerala High Court Directs ED To Probe Alleged Fraud Of ₹24 Crore In Edamulackal Co-Operative Bank

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday (4th December) ordered, the Enforcement Directorate to register a case against all the persons involved in the Edamulackal Co-operative Bank Fraud. The Division Bench comprising of Justice Amit Rawal and Justice K. V. Jayakumar was dealing with an appeal filed by one of the depositors in the Bank.As per the reports, an amount of Rs. 24 Crore has been siphoned off from the Bank in Kollam. The Court noted that FIR has been registered only against the former Secretary of the Bank. The surcharge proceedings initiated by the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act has fixed a liability of Rs 24,22,95,724 on 14 members of the former governing body of the Bank. The court wondered how other persons were let out without any criminal case.The Court observed that breach of trust and cheating is a predicate offence as per the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The Court directed ED to register a case against all the persons involved for misappropriation, breach of trust, cheating as well as offences under the PC Act. The Court further asked ED to file an affidavit detailing the steps taken after registration of ECIR.The appeal was submitted by a depositor who is currently suffering from cancer. The Court directed the bank to pay the amount owed to him immediately. The Court asked the Home Secretary and Additional Chief Secretary of Co-operative Societies to file an affidavit explaining the circumstances and the reasons for not registering the FIR against the other 13 persons. The Court said the affidavit shall mention the stage of investigation. The Court further directed the affidavit to state whether the accused persons have been arrested, released on bail or otherwise. Further, the court directed that the affidavit shall disclose the steps taken to ascertain the assets of all the 14 persons in the former governing committee. The Court ordered that until such time, these persons are restrained from creating third party rights or alienating their assets.Case Title: Rajendran Unnithan S. v The Registrar of Co-operative Societies and OthersCase No: WA 1861 of 2024

Kerala High Court Directs ED To Probe Alleged Fraud Of ₹24 Crore In Edamulackal Co-Operative Bank

Manju Elsa Isac

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