The Enforcement Directorate on Monday named the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in a chargesheet pertaining to a case about money having been allegedly siphoned off from a bank controlled by the party, The Indian Express reported.

The agency also named eight leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala in the chargesheet. They included Lok Sabha MP K Radhakrishnan, former state minister AC Moitheen and the party’s former Thrissur district secretary MM Varghese.

This was the second case in which the Enforcement Directorate named a political party as an accused entity under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. In May last year, the agency had named the Aam Aadmi Party as an accused in the alleged Delhi liquor policy scam.

In Kerala, the Enforcement Directorate began investigating the case against Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders after the Crime Branch alleged that about Rs 300 crore had been siphoned off by party functionaries from the Karuvannur Cooperative Bank, The Indian Express reported.

The Enforcement Directorate alleged that Radhakrishnan, Moitheen and Varghese – during their tenures as the district secretaries of the party in Thrissur – helped other accused persons procure illegal loans from the bank. A portion of these loans was allegedly funnelled to the party fund, according to The Indian Express.

The chargesheet included the statement of a bank employee named Biju MK, who became an approver in the case. Biju reportedly told a magistrate court that members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s district committee pressured bank authorities to clear illegal loans, and obtained a portion of the loans from borrowers as contributions to the party fund.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary MV Govindan alleged that the Enforcement Directorate’s actions were part of a politically motivated conspiracy, The New Indian Express reported.

“The people of Kerala can see through these plots,” Govindan said. “The CPM will confront the issue both politically and legally.”

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader referred to a statement by the Union Ministry of Finance before Parliament in March that there had only been two convictions out of the 193 cases registered by the Enforcement Directorate against MPs, MLAs and local body members in the last 10 years.

“This clearly exposes a politically biased approach intended to harass opposition leaders without evidence,” Govindan was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express. He claimed that the party had taken strict action against those allegedly involved in the bank fraud case.