ED Being Used to Destroy Cooperative Sector, Says Pinarayi Vijayan; Calls It Politically Motivated

Thrissur: Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan alleged that the Enforcement Directorate is being weaponised to destroy the cooperative sector and that its actions are driven by political motives. He was speaking at the inauguration of the Ittithanam Service Cooperative Bank's new building.

He said the approach seen in the Karuvannur Bank case was one of influencing those who had committed irregularities and turning them into approver witnesses. "For the first time in India's history, the ED has made a political party an accused. What was seen in Karuvannur is exactly such a political move. When some individuals committed wrongdoing at the Karuvannur Bank and action was initiated against them, the ED intervened. The ED influenced those who had engaged in corruption and made them approver witnesses," he said.

"The ED and those directing it from behind pressured them to say what they had in mind, and extracted written statements from them. These were then presented as major evidence to falsely implicate the CPI(M). As a result, all those who served as CPI(M) Thrissur district secretaries were made accused. The cooperative sector stands above partisan politics. But the ED is turning it into a tool to destroy the sector," Pinarayi said.