Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has accused Central agencies, specifically the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), of trying to run down the State’s cooperative sector banks by picking on isolated instances of financial irregularities.
Deliberate attempts are being made by the ED to portray that the entire cooperative sector in the State is a scam. The ED’s moves against the cooperative sector is politically motivated and the State government will resist it, he said while inaugurating a seminar on protecting the cooperative sector here on Monday.
Professionally run
Mr. Vijayan said that there were deposits to the tune of ₹2.5 lakh crore in cooperative banks in the State and that the sector was being run professionally. He claimed that as soon as the fraud at Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank was brought out in the open, the government had taken stern action. Everything was done to ensure that the sector retained its credibility and reputation.
The ED swooped in as though it was unearthing some new scam and portraying that the entire sector was fraudulent. He alleged that huge financial scams elsewhere in the country did not seem to interest the ED. Instead, it wanted to destroy the State’s cooperative sector, which was the backbone of the State finances.
He called upon everyone to stand together to resist the ED.
