Reports of ED officials raiding co-operative banks from various parts of the country came huge and thick throughout Wednesday. More than 300 co-op banks are under ED lens for laundering black money from November 8 to 15.
Enforcement Directorate and CBI officials raided offices of select cooperative banks in different parts of Kerala on Wednesday.
ED officials conducted inspections in the district cooperative banks of Kannur, Kozhikode and Thrissur while a team of CBI officials conducted inspections of records of district cooperative bank in Kollam and Malappuram Services Cooperative Bank.
In another development the accounts at the Salem District Cooperative Bank and at its 64 branches are being searched by Income Tax sleuths. An insider said the I-T men were looking into deposits made between November 8 and 15.
News coming from Rajasthan says the chairman, director and former chairman of the Alwar Urban Cooperative Bank, were among five arrested on Wednesday by the Rajasthan Special Operation Group in Jaipur for allegedly embezzling over Rs. 16 crore.
“The accused embezzled Rs. 15.14 crore before demonetization and also, through various means, exchanged their own Rs. 97 lakh for new notes that was provided to the Alwar Urban Cooperative Bank for public use,” an official said.
The ED probe is not making any distinction between BJP controlled or Opposition controlled co-op banks. It earlier raided Ahmadabad District Co-op Bank. BJP President Amit Shah is on its Board.
Co-op banks of Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh are said to be leading in the cases of money laundering.