Depositors lose Rs 12 crore in cooperative bank
The depositors have continued their legal battle for the last two years after the scam came to light
KOLLAM: Over 3,000 depositors in a service cooperative bank here have lost their deposits worth Rs 12 crore after being allegedly swindled by the director board members of the bank. Almost an entire village depended on the Thamarakkudi service cooperative bank at Mylom in Kotarakkara for investing their lifetime earnings which has now vanished into thin air after an audit report revealed that the bank has no assets left despite Rs 4 crore of outstanding credit.
The depositors have continued their legal battle for the last two years after the scam came to light, and have been are protesting in a permanent canopy in front of the bank for the last four months.
Meanwhile, the RBI also has informed them that cooperative banks working all across the State do not have the licence to function as financial institutions.
“The Government is not taking legal action against the employees and directors of the bank as well as the officials for this swindling. The cooperative department has even failed to implement the cooperative ombudsman’s directions on the issue. The complaints forwarded to the Chief Minister through the redressal cell has also been neglected,” alleged K.N. Gopalakrishnan Nair, who lost nearly Rs 25 lakhs at the bank.
The protesters also allege that the police were not taking proper action against the director board members who are absconding after the issue got attention. “In 2014, the secretary was arrested based on FIR No. 913, but was released on bail soon. The inquiry stopped after that,” he said. “We demand that a financial package be declared by the Government to save all of us who were cheated by the cooperative bank”
Over 1,600 cooperative societies, across the State attract deposits on the basis of a by-law but without the consent of the RBI or NABARD.
