Small investors of Una village coop society lose Rs 14 cr to fraud

Small investors have lost about Rs 14 crore due to a fraud in the Isspur Cooperative Society in Una district. Suraj Pathak, president of the Isspur Cooperative Society, told The Tribune that a fraud was committed in their village society about four years ago. The then managing committee of the society and its officials had extended loans worth crores of rupees to some villagers without any collateral or security. The debtors did not return the money and the small investors of the society lost about Rs 14 crore. Till date, the society had not been able to recover the amount from the defaulters and the small investors were sufferings, he added.

Pathak said that a Vigilance case was registered against the then secretary of the management committee of the society in 2020. However, the Vigilance Department had not filed a chargesheet against the defaulters till date. The society, despite its best efforts, had failed to recover the money from the defaulters and the small investors lost their savings, he added.

Pathak said that in this case, the Isspur society had extended loans up to Rs 80 lakh while cooperative societies were not allowed to provide loans above Rs 10 lakh to their members. In many cases, the management committees of the cooperative societies in connivance with their secretaries had extended huge loans, causing losses to small investors.

He said, “The state Cooperative Department says that it has no power to question the decisions of the management committees of the cooperative societies regarding loans. On the other hand, the cooperative societies have no power to take penal action against the defaulters to recover loans. This power rests with the officials of the Cooperative Department.”

SP (Vigilance and Anti-Corruption), Kangra, Balbir Thakur said that though the Vigilance Department had registered a case regarding the fraud in the Isspur Cooperative Society, the inquiry was transferred to the special investigating unit, Shimla.

Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, who also holds the charge of the Cooperative Department, said that all records of the cooperative societies in the state were being digitised. “Himachal has already digitised the records of 1,000 cooperative societies. It has got another grant of Rs 3 crore from the Union Government to digitise the records of another 1,000 cooperative societies. Once the records are digitised, the chances of fraud in cooperative societies will reduce,” he added.

Small investors of cooperative societies operating at the village level in the state have lost money due to frauds. Ironically, in many such cases, the government has failed to act against the defaulters or recover money. The stakeholders in the societies have urged the government to make stricter laws to punish those who commit frauds in cooperative societies.

Debtors failed to return money

• The then managing committee of the Isspur Cooperative Society and its officials had extended loans worth crores of rupees to some villagers without any collateral or security
• The debtors did not return the money and the small investors of the society lost about ~14 crore
• The society had not been able to recover the amount

  from the defaulters till date

• A Vigilance case was registered against the then secretary in 2020. However, the Vigilance Department had not filed a chargesheet against the defaulters