Kochi, Dec 16 With 10 FIRs registered by the Kerala Police against Keralites who left Kuwait after availing bank loans, the Union Home Ministry has taken this case seriously and is in touch with the cops.
Around 1,425 Keralites, including 700 nurses, left Kuwait and settled in other countries and the total outstanding loans that have not been repaid are to the tune of Rs 700 crore.
A team of Union Home Ministry officials have already got in touch with the Kerala Police as this issue is being seen by the Indian authorities as a grave matter as it involves cheating a popular Kuwait bank.
The Home Ministry officials have sought details of the cases that have been registered by the Kerala Police and they will be soon getting in touch with the Kuwait bank to get the entire list of loan defaulters.
Incidentally, last month Kuwaiti national Muhammad Abdul Vassey Kamran a top official of the Gulf Bank, Kuwait, located at Al-Qibla, Mubarak-Al Kabeer Street, Safat, Kuwait, arrived in Kerala and met the state police chief.
Based on his complaint soon the Kerala Police registered 10 FIRs and a probe has already begun.
What has irked the Kuwaiti bank is that many who availed loans, especially nurses most of whom worked with the Kuwaiti Health Department, have already left Kuwait for countries like the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
The Kerala Police also has decided to take up the case seriously and entrusted it to an Inspector General of Police-rank official and he has constituted a team for the probe.
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 1 crore, left Kuwait for other countries and for India.
Another thing that has come to light is that the defaulters in the past had won the confidence of the bank by paying their earlier availed loans without any default.
With the Kerala Police and the Union Home Ministry also viewing this seriously, stringent steps will be taken, if the defaulters fail to repay.
The extreme step of cancelling the nursing licences of defaulters healthcare workers is also being planned.
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