New Delhi, Nov 13 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Monday that it has attached assets worth Rs 4.34 crore belonging to K.K. Abraham, then president, then secretary, other board members and a private person in the Pulpally Service Cooperative Bank case.

The properties were attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 on November 10.

The ED case is based on the FIR registered by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), Wayanad, Kerala, against the president of the Pulpally Service Cooperative Bank and the head of the loan section of the bank under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Subsequently, the VACB, Wayanad filed a charge sheet against K K Abraham and 9 others.

“The ED probe revealed that bank officials and its governing body members sanctioned enhanced loans without the consent and knowledge of the loan applicants by surreptitiously and illegally showing overvalued estimation of properties offered as collateral in the bank record and the over and above amount of the loans sanctioned on the basis of overvaluation were given to Kollapallil,” the ED said.

“The loans were not repaid by the applicants and thus caused total loss of Rs 5.62 crore to the Pulpally Service Cooperative Bank,” it said.

The proceeds of crime in the form of overvalued loans were deposited in the bank account of Kollappallil, maintained with the Pulpally Service Cooperative Bank, and subsequently withdrawn in cash and siphoned off, the ED said.

Earlier, Kollapallil and Abraham were arrested by the ED and are presently in judicial custody.