FRONT PAGE | Saturday, November 7, 2009 | Email | Print | 
Cong set to axe Kripashankar
J Gopikrishnan | New Delhi
Mumbai regional Congress committee chief Kripashankar Singh is going to be the first political victim of Koda’s money laundering scam whose ramifications have begun to reach at the door of the Congress. Maharashtra Congress in-charge AK Antony is soon expected to file a report to party president Sonia Gandhi suggesting Singh’s removal after his name cropped up along with Lalu Prasad as beneficiary of the scam.
The MRCC chief had met Sonia two days in the Capital to refute charge of his involvement in the scam. Incidentally, at the time of Government formation — on May 20 to precise—Kripashankar Singh had escorted Madhu Koda to meet Sonia Gandhi for pledging his support to the UPA.
Senior Congress leaders said the party high command has already made up its mind to remove Singh from the party post and was waiting for Antony’s formal report on charges of Singh’s links with Koda’s illegal money transactions. The decision from the party high command is expected after completing the formalities on Government formation in Maharashtra, said Congress leaders.
Singh, who was actively lobbying for the ministerial berth, got a huge blow when his name cropped up in the Enforcement Directorate’s raids on Koda’s vast empire. Kripashankar Singh’s son Sanjay is married to the daughter of former Jharkhand Minister Kamalesh Singh, who has also been raided by the IT/ED in connection with Koda’s money laundering racket. Following the money trail, ED raids on Balaji Group in Mumbai last week revealed Singh’s link with Koda’s scam.
The second blow came to Singh on Thursday when Income Tax authorities disclosed that Singh had quoted different PAN numbers in the affidavits to the Election Commission in 2004 and 2009. Singh’s affidavit, posted on the Election Commission’s website, gives his Income Tax PAN number declared in 2004 as AVAPS1485L, while in 2009 election, it is CFYPS989P. According to IT sources, the nomenclature — Permanent Account Number — is self-explanatory that it cannot change during the holder’s lifetime. Any change in the address or city would entail a change in the assessing officer but not the number.
There is speculation that Singh may have used separate PAN cards for his bank accounts and assets away from the glare of the tax authorities.
Sources said that Singh could be prosecuted under the provisions of the IT Act if it was proved that he had deliberately violated the law.
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