THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Sajeevan Kollapallil in connection with a money laundering case linked to the Pulpally Service Cooperative Bank in Wayanad district. Sajeevan Kollapallil is a close aide of Senior Congress leader and former KPCC general secretary KK Abraham, who is the prime accused in the case.
The ED initiated the investigation based on an FIR filed by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau in Wayanad against the governing body members and officials of the bank.
Sajeevan was arrested after being found to have laundered black money by acting as an intermediary in a loan fraud scheme. Following his arrest, he was produced before the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Special Court in Kozhikode, which remanded him to ED’s custody until September 30. The ED launched a PMLA investigation based on the aforementioned FIR against the governing body members and bank officials of the Pulpally Service Cooperative Bank in Wayanad, Kerala.
The ED’s investigation revealed that bank officials and governing body members approved loans without the consent and knowledge of the applicants, overvaluing the properties offered as collateral. They also disbursed excess amounts, which were siphoned off and credited to Sajeevan’s account at the bank. The loans were not repaid by the applicants, resulting in a loss of ₹5.62 crore for the bank.
The vigilance department initiated the investigation after Rajendran Nair, a farmer and native of Pulpalli Chembakamula, committed suicide due to his inability to repay a loan from the cooperative bank.
Vigilance authorities discovered that the Congress-led administrative body of the bank falsely accused Rajendran Nair of taking a Rs. 25 lakh loan from the bank. In reality, Rajendran Nair owed only Rs. 80,000 to the cooperative bank. Facing threats from the bank after being unable to repay the falsely attributed loan, the farmer tragically took his own life. Sajeevan’s name was mentioned in the farmer’s suicide note, a fact uncovered by the vigilance department.
Earlier, the Pulpally police had arrested Sajeevan and K.K. Abraham in connection with the farmer’s death.
Discussion about this post