Kuwait bank files FIR; alleges Rs 700 cr loan default by Kerala nurses

PTI Thiruvananthapuram: Aprominent Kuwait-based bank has lodged complaints in various police stations in Kerala alleging that over 1,400 people from the state, mostly nurses, had defaulted on substantial loans they had availed while working in the gulf nation, totalling about Rs 700 crore. As the majority of the defaulters had returned to their home state or migrated to many other foreign countries after that, the Gulf Bank KSCP (Kuwait Shareholding Company Public) recently lodged complaints with the Kerala police, following which 10 FIRs have been registered in the state.

Of this, eight cases were registered in Ernakulam rural, one in Ernakulam city, and one in neighbouring Kottayam based on the complaint of Mohammed Abdul Vassey Kamran, the Deputy General Manager of the bank, police sources said. Most of the cases were registered in different police stations last month under various sections of the IPC, including 406 and 420, 120-B, 34 and so on, they said. Advocate Thomas J Anakkallunkal, who provides legal assistance to the bank in the state, called it “mass cheating” and said each defaulter had availed loans between Rs 75 lakhs and one crore from the institution. The bank was defrauded of around Rs 700 crore by over 1,400 people, he said quoting figures. “The majority of them had availed loans during the Covid-19 period.

The defaulters, the majority of them nurses, worked in various government hospitals in Kuwait, and they could borrow loans by producing their salary certificates,” he told PTI. Detailing the alleged modus operandi of the defaulters, he said initially, they would take small loans and repay them without any default and thus gain the trust of the bank authorities. Later, they would take large loans, ranging from Rs 75 lakh and one crore rupees each, and would repay the instalments twice or thrice without fail.