Kerala: Income Tax dept freezes CPM Thrissur district committee's bank account; Read

After conducting a raid on the Bank of India branch and finding that the CPM's Thrissur district committee had taken substantial amounts of cash without disclosing it in their audit report, the Income Tax Department froze the committee's bank account.  

Thrissur: Following a raid at the Bank of India's branch on Friday, the Income Tax (IT) Department froze the bank account of the CPM's Thrissur district committee on Saturday. The account which started in 1988, holds a balance of Rs 4.80 crore, with Rs 1 crore withdrawn earlier this month.

The Income Tax (I-T) Department conducted a raid at the Thrissur branch of a public sector bank on M G Road, prompted by large withdrawals made by the CPM district committee in recent months. Subsequently, upon discovering that the CPM had not disclosed these withdrawals in their audit report, officials interrogated M M Varghese, the Thrissur district secretary of the party and a member of the state committee, at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office in Kochi on Friday.

IT officials arrived at the ED office to obtain a statement directly from Varghese. The IT Department uncovered withdrawals totaling Rs 3-5 crore from the district committee's account in the public sector bank, despite the account still holding a significant balance.

CPM Thrissur District Secretary MM Varghese responded to the issue saying that there is nothing to hide. The party has an account with the Bank of India. He said the officers did not threaten him during the interrogation. 

Earlier, the ED found that unreported transactions had occurred in about 25 bank accounts run by different CPM local committees while looking into the illicit money trail in the Karuvannur Cooperative Bank fraud. The Thrissur district committee's bank accounts were then included in the investigation. The investigation's current priorities are locating the individuals who took substantial withdrawals from the M G Road branch a few months ago, as well as the money's source and beneficiaries.