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Koda amassed Rs 2,000 crore
Vijay Deo Jha/Pranav Pratyush | Ranchi
Ex-CM, associates invested Rs 1,500 cr in cos, Rs 500 cr in hawala, says I-T Dept after raids
The Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at 70 places in eight States associated with former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and his associates, Sanjay Chaudhary and Binod Kumar Sinha, on Saturday. According to preliminary revelations, unaccounted assets and investments of about Rs 2,000 crore were found by the I-T sleuths and ED officials. This includes investments in companies in Mumbai, Kolkata and Lucknow to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore and Rs 400-500 crore in hawala transactions.
“During the raids in Kolkata, Mumbai and Lucknow, documents have been found suggesting huge investments. Dozens of bank accounts and lockers found at various places are being seized,” I-T Director of Investigation Ujjwal Kumar Chaudhary told mediapersons in Ranchi.
Chaudhary said according to information obtained from Mumbai-based hawala entry operators, Lalit Jain and Arvind Vyas, Koda had invested more than Rs 50 crore abroad. In another revelation, he said Rs 300-400 crore had been sent to Thailand, Malaysia, Dubai and other countries through hawala. Binod Kumar Sinha and Vijay Joshi had invested Rs 25 crore to revive the defunct firm, Indo Asahi Glass Company.
Meanwhile, I-T and ED sleuths have started interrogating Koda. The I-T Director revealed transactions of more than Rs 1,200 crore made in Balaji Group of Companies by Koda’s close associate, Vinod Kumar Sinha. “In the last two years, transactions worth Rs 990 crore were made with Balaji Bullion Bazar while Rs 360 crore of transaction was done with Balaji Bullion Corporation. Another transaction worth Rs 100 crore was made in Balaji Bullion and Commodities. Manoj Punamiya, whose wife is the Director of the company, is a close associate of Vinod,” he said.
Vinod Sinha and Sanjay Choudhary have been absconding and the I-T Director has asked them to appear before the I-T Department within 24 hours. “Otherwise, we will sound red alert and move the court for their physical presence,” he added.
Ironically, raids were also carried out on the premises of some of the mediapersons, including Arup Chatterjee, Premsankaran besides BK Singh and Arun Kumar Srivastava who is the former private secretary to Koda.
Stating that search operations were conducted on the basis of certain intelligence inputs, the I-T Director said: “It was a joint operation of I-T and ED”. The I-T official said that Koda and his associates had laundered public money when he (Koda) was the Mines and Geology Minister in the Government led by Arjun Munda. Between 2003 and 2006, Koda held this portfolio twice in two Governments led by Munda.
Raids were conducted to survey Koda’s properties in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Chaibasa, New Delhi, Mumbai, Nasik, Lucknow and Kolkata. According to Ujjwal, in Ranchi alone, I-T raids were conducted at 24 places, while 30 places were surveyed by the sleuths.
In Jamshedpur, raids were conducted at the residence of Vinod Sinha at Dimna Road, and a flat located at Ashiana Gardens in Mango while similar operations were carried out at the residence of Sanjay Chaudhary situated at Madhusudan Complex at Mango.
Raids were also conducted at the upcoming mall, Balaji Construction at Contrator’s Area in Bistupur. Koda is alleged to have invested huge money in the construction of the mall. Sources informed that raids were also conducted at the ancestral house of Koda at Jagannathpur, West Singhbhum. The team also carried out search operations at the residence-cum-office of Koda at Mahuasai, Chaibasa. Raids were also conducted at the offices of Koda’s associates at Nimdih at Saraikela Kharsawa.
In Bistupur, search raids were conducted on the premises of some more close associates of Koda, Sajjan Naredi, OP Garg and Ashoka Kumar Kedia. The official premises of Sanjay and Vinod at Tiwari Becher Complex were also raided where the team seized documents regarding investments and properties.
Koda started facing trouble after the State vigilance department lodged an FIR against him for amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income. Soon after he came under the scanner of ED after the department filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), on October 9 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in Ranchi against him. ECIR was also filed against his three other former Cabinet colleagues, Kamlesh Singh, Bhanu Pratap Shahi and Bandhu Tirkey and five others.
ED has charged Koda with purchasing mines in Liberia worth US $17 lakh (Rs 8.5 crore) besides making other benami purchases in the name of his close associates, including Sinha. Koda is reported to have invested more than Rs 4,000 crore in mines in South Africa and Liberia.
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