Kandala cooperative bank scam: Audit figures were tampered with, alleges former president N. Bhasurangan
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N. Bhasurangan, former president of Kandala Service Cooperative Bank | Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT
N. Bhasurangan, former president of the scam-tainted Kandala Service Cooperative Bank in Thiruvananthapuram district, has alleged “deliberate mischief” in the audit carried out in the bank to show inflated losses.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Mr. Bhasurangan said the auditor responsible for the exercise for the 2020-21 fiscal had tampered with the figures to exaggerate the loss. “This was politically motivated and deliberately done to wreck the bank”, he said, adding that a plea is pending before the Director of Co-operative Audit to review the audited figures for 2020-21 by correctly assessing the profit and loss and preparing the balance sheet.
According to Mr. Bhasurangan, the revenue income for the fiscal was ₹22.59 crore and the revenue expenditure, ₹19.12 crore, which shows an operational profit of ₹3.47 crore. The income from interest of ₹18.30 crore was not considered in the revenue side. He alleged that “false figures” were added on the expenditure side to show an “artificial loss” of ₹89.57 crore.
Mr. Bhasurangan alleged that “the entire episode was politically motivated.” The report of the investigation carried out under Section 65 of the Kerala Cooperative Societies Act, which pegged the bank’s loss at ₹101 crore, was first handed over to a section of the media. He said that an appeal against this finding was now before the State government. Following the controversy, the governing body was replaced by an administrative committee in August 2023.
Earlier, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) had launched a probe based on multiple FIRs registered against the bank officials for allegedly deceiving depositors.
In March this year, when the previous LDF government was in power, the Kerala Co-operative Development and Welfare Fund Board had sanctioned ₹28.5 crore as loan for propping up eight crisis-hit cooperative sector institutions in the State, including the Kandala Service Cooperative Bank.
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