CPI expels former Kandala bank president Bhasurangan as ED detains him for questioning on money-laundering charges
The Hindu
CPI expels former Kandala Service Cooperative Bank president N. Bhasurangan after ED detains him for questioning on fraud-related money laundering charges. CPI demoted him earlier due to audit findings of ₹101 crore assets depreciation. CPI's action in stark contrast to CPI(M) protecting its members in similar Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank scam. CPI mindful of impact on 2024 Lok Sabha elections & disaffection of 72 members who lost life savings. ED raids continue.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) has expelled former Kandala Service Cooperative Bank president N. Bhasurangan from the party’s primary membership after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) detained him for questioning on lending and deposit fraud-related money-laundering charges.
Mangode Radhakrishnan, CPI district secretary, Thiruvananthapuram, told reporters on November 9, 2023 that the party had earlier demoted Mr. Bhasurangan from its district executive to mandalam committee after a Cooperative department audit found large-scale fraud that caused the bank’s assets to depreciate by ₹101 crore during the 2015-2021 period.
The CPI’s disciplinary action against the senior leader in the district stood in stark contrast to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] that has legally and politically thrown a wall around party apparatchiks arrested by the ED in connection with the comparable Karuvannur Service Cooperative Bank scam in Thrissur.
A CPI insider said the financial shenanigans in the party-controlled bank had heightened popular disaffection with the party and the government.
Moreover, he said the CPI could organisationally ill-afford to ignore that the 72 cooperative members who lost their life savings by investing in the insolvent bank were predominantly CPI supporters.
The CPI was also reportedly mindful that the Kandala bank corruption could hamper its prospects in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by becoming a potent propaganda tool in the hands of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Meanwhile, ED officials hospitalised Mr. Bhasurangan after he said he felt queasy during questioning. The agency’s raids, which commenced early on November 8, were continuing.
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