KAKINADA: Jayalakshmi Mutually Aided Multipurpose Cooperative Society has duped 19,000 depositors of ₹457.48 crore as on February28, 2022. ₹220.94 crore of this amount comprises loans taken by the society vice chairperson and some directors of the society.
According to District Cooperative Department officials, office bearers of the society hatched a conspiracy to dupe their customers by offering high interest rates of 10.5 per cent to 12.5 percent on their deposits. All society records have been manipulated. More irregularities are expected to come out once records are examined in detail.
Kakinada district collector Kritika Shukla has notified Kakinada superintendent of police on April 8 about irregularities in the society.
According to information available, the society has 29 branches, including 11 in Kakinada, six in Konaseema, five each in East Godavari and Visakhapatnam, apart from one each in West Godavari and Vijayawada. The society collected deposits of ₹ 457.48 crore from nearly 19,000 depositors as on February 28. It sanctioned loans of ₹ 455.78 crore to 2,245 members. Though the final audit report has shown ₹3.15 crore of investments and bank balances, as on date, most of the amount has been withdrawn and all bank accounts are with minimum balances.
The audit report shows ₹2,81,83,181 as reserve but not invested anywhere outside the business of the society. All loans and advances have been sanctioned without obtaining security, thereby violating provisions of its byelaws. Verification teams found that society vice chairman R.B. Visalakshi has taken 27 loans and advances on various dates totalling to ₹64,47,62,612 and the entire amount is overdue. Director M. Satyanarayana has taken a loan of ₹ 18.34 crore and another director S. Chakra Bhaskara Rao 1.19 crore. Both have not repaid the loan amount. Another ₹20.79 crore loans have been given to close relatives of Chakra Bhaskara Rao without obtaining proper security.
Irregular sanction of ₹4.82 crore loans has been made to C.V. Subrahmanyam, the bank’s consultant and his close relatives without proper security and process. Another ₹128,75,17,994 have been irregularly sanctioned to 32 parties.
Meanwhile, depositors are lining up at the Rajamahendravaram branch of the society seeking repayment of their deposits without interest. One of them, Narasimha Murthy, a retired employee of Singareni Collieries, said he deposited nearly ₹5 lakh after being offered 12 percent interest against 8 percent offered by regular banks. Another said he deposited ₹9 lakh. He now wants to withdraw the money as he has to perform the marriage of his daughter this month. He has urged the government to take steps for repayment of his deposit.
Bharatiya Janata Party official spokesperson Y. Malakondaiah demanded that the state government also arrest auditors of the society.
Authorities have held the managing committee responsible and liable for both civil and criminal action jointly and severally.
Society Executive Body:
R.S.R. Anjaneyulu (chairman), R.B. Visalakshi (vice chairperson), D. Venkateswara Rao (treasurer), R. Jaydevmani (executive director), M. Satyanarayana (director), Y.A.P.R. Murthy (director), V. Narasayya (director), R. Nageswara Rao (director), S. Chakra Bhaskara Rao (director) and G. Narayana Murthy (director).
