Bank loan fraud: Kuwait officials to arrive in Kerala to register more cases

Kochi: After police registered 10 FIRs against Keralaites who left Kuwait after availing bank loans, a team of officials from the West Asian country will be arriving here to take steps to register more complaints.

The cases were filed on the complainant of Kuwaiti national Muhammad Abdul Vassey Kamran.

One case has been registered at the Kumarakom Police Station in Kottayam district.

The loans were given by the Gulf Bank, Kuwait, located at Al-Qibla, Mubarak-Al Kabeer Street, Safat, Kuwait.

According to sources, Kuwaiti bank officials, after getting a good response from the Kerala Police who registered 10 FIRs, have decided to come here to register more complaints.

Around 1,425 Keralaites, including 700 nurses, left Kuwait and settled in other countries and the total outstanding loans that have not been repaid was Rs 700 crore.

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The Kerala Police took up the issue very seriously and entrusted the cases to be led by an Inspector General of Police.

Till now, the 10 FIRs were registered in the districts of Kottayam and Ernakulam.

The scam surfaced when the Kuwaiti bank authorities found that there had been defaults in loan repayments, and on further perusal, it came to light that many of those who availed of these loans ranging from Rs 50 lakh to more than Rs one crore, left Kuwait to countries like the US, the UK, Canada and to states in India.

Over the years the Kuwaiti currency (KD) has had the highest exchange rate, and at present one KD fetches Rs 275, while one US Dollar fetches Rs 89.

Kuwait has a large number of people from Kerala and there is a huge population of nurses.

Meanwhile, the default by some who have availed the loans happened during the COVID-19 time and had to return as they lost their jobs, but it remains to be seen how the law will catch up with the defaulters.

Steps are also being initiated to see if the registration of nurses who availed loans and defaulted can be cancelled, and for that, the role of the Kerala government was very crucial.