The arrest of Pearls Agro-Tech director Gurnam Singh who swindled ₹49,000 crore from 5 crore investors, including many from Kerala serves as a major warning to the financial sector. In the past 4 years alone, the total investment loss suffered by the people of Kerala is estimated to be around ₹2 lakh crore.
There are several well-functioning multi-state cooperative societies operating across the country. However, among them are wolves in sheep’s clothing fraudsters disguised as cooperatives. Karma News aims to expose such fraudsters to the public. One such example is the Vishwadeepthi Multi-State Cooperative Society in Thrissur. Promising 12% interest, they collected crores and eventually turned their backs on the investors.
This year, Farm Fed which collected over ₹300 crore from Malayalis collapsed, and its owners ended up in jail. Similarly, the Southern Green Farming and Marketing Co-operative Society accepted ₹300 crore in investments and cheated the public. When the Travancore Multi-State Cooperative Society failed to return investor funds, its owners also landed in jail. In each of these cases, hundreds of crores were lost.
Many multi-state cooperative societies currently operating in Kerala are on the brink of collapse. While there are genuinely functioning societies that are profitable and popular among the public, there are others exploiting the system misusing public money for personal gain and ultimately ruining the institution before landing behind bars.
How many private blade banks are there in Kerala that don’t cheat people? How many chit fund companies are there that follow the law? The truth is, once the money reaches their hands, the owners disappear with the hard-earned savings of locals. From Popular Finance which vanished with ₹2,000 crore to Kandal Bank, Karivannur, and Nedumangad-based financial institutions, the list of frauds continues to grow.
Where has the money from these collapsed institutions gone? Who has it? Which multi-state cooperative societies collected thousands of crores and cheated investors? Which ones are genuinely operating? Karma News is committed to bringing all this information to the public.
This detailed Karma News investigation report is for the people of Kerala. It will help ensure that the public doesn’t fall into more traps and that the culprits are caught red-handed. Karma News will continue to expose those who defrauded Malayalis by misusing their investments.
