The cooperation department will strengthen the laws by making suitable amendments to address the irregularities and corruption in the cooperation sector, cooperationministerV N Vasavan said in a statement here. The decision has been taken in the wake of incidents of illegal activities in the sector, including the latestKaruvannurcooperative bank fraud.The cooperation department has decided to register criminal cases against those involved in financial frauds, money swindling, loan frauds and frauds relating to gold pledging, after conducting a preliminary inquiry. The cooperation laws will be amended to incorporate sections, under which the properties of the accused will be frozen.

The cooperative vigilance will be strengthened and the sections 65 and 66 of theCooperation Actwill be amended so that cases of criminal nature can be reported immediately to the Police and the vigilance. The laws will also be amended by which the cooperation vigilance will be empowered to suo-motu conduct searches in cooperation societies.

All the societies that have a WORKING CAPITAL of more than Rs 250 crore will be clubbed as a unit and an audit team consisting of three members will examine the accounts of such bodies. The transfers of the officials of the department will be on the basis of clear guidelines, all the officials who are working on working arrangement basis will be sent back to the districts soon.