Thiruvananthapuram: Cooperation minister A.C. Moideen has said that there was a deliberate attempt to target the cooperative banking sector in the state by raising baseless allegations of black money. The minister said the black money charge was politically motivated aimed at destroying the cooperative sector which is providing assistance to the common man including small farmers. He urged the Centre to desist from the move to weaken the cooperative sector to favour the private banks. The cooperative sector was playing a big role in the development of the state and is not stashing black money as was being alleged by vested interests.
Meanwhile, the LDF camp said there was deliberate move from BJP to create confusion in the minds of people about cooperative sector and force them to move out. The cooperative banks were following strict norms. Deposits are received after collecting entire information from depositors and nobody is allowed to open account without furnishing identity proof. There are more than 100 primary banks in the cooperative sector in the state with each having deposits worth Rs 250 to Rs 300 crores. There are banks with more than Rs 1000 crore deposit. The entire cooperative sector have deposits to the tune of 1.5 lakh crore. The LDF leaders say the BJP is playing cheap politics as it is yet to gain a foothold in the cooperative sector. There is a clear political motive behind these baseless allegations.
However, those questioning the functioning of cooperative banks say these are mainly controlled by the local politicians and do not follow Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements strictly. Unlike main stream banks, they lenient KYC norms. Often they don’t insist on getting details like PAN card. Meanwhile, cooperative bank authorities have criticised the IT department for trying to exploit the present currency crisis for carrying out raids. "If they want any details about customers or banks, they should come as per the well-laid out procedures. Let them send a notice and also mention specific requirements instead of carrying out such actions unilaterally," said a cooperative bank member.
