Thiruvananthapuram: Fort police probing the multi-crore scandal associated with the Thiruvithamcore Cooperative Society sent a request on Saturday to the cooperative department seeking the preliminary inquiry report over the fraud. The department conducted an inquiry soon after the fraud came to light and an irregularity worth Rs 10 crore was noticed. The department also found that the society had an investment of Rs 41.
73 crore and Rs 32 crore was given as loans. Irregularities were spotted in the procedures for granting loans as well. Loans were granted without even having a valuation report on the guarantee of property measuring less than three cents.
Non-payment of loans was pointed out as the key reason for the collapse of the society. The biggest defaulters include prominent personalities who took loans up to Rs 50 lakh. The probe team has requested the preliminary report to have a clear idea of the gravity of the fraud and how it took place.
“As of now, there are 11 accused, including the president of the society M S Kumar, vice-president G Manickom, secretary Indu and nine board members. Kumar was the state spokesperson of BJP and Manickom is a prominent BJP member. The other members also have BJP links, and all the accused are absconding now.
We are gathering maximum evidence, and the cases are being registered on the 85 complaints. We are yet to find how the irregularity took place and to what level. The report of the department will help us in the probe ahead,”.