IT Officials Interrogate Koda

In connection with alleged hawala scam and illegal investment running in hundreds of crores of rupees, Income Tax officials are interrogating former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda.

Koda’s associates had admitted to the Enforcement Directorate of hawala transactions worth Rs 40 crore while he had been in hospital for a week steering clear of the taxmen.

Though Koda told IT authorities that he was too sick to meet them, he met hundreds of his supporters at his house in Ranchi on Monday.

It may be mentioned that he had been accused of a Rs 4000 crore scam carried out with the help of some close friends. After IT department conducted raids at his house and offices of his aides across the country, Koda’s complaint of stomach trouble and was then admitted. He had stayed there for a week.

Doctors had denied on record that they were helping him stay in hospital to avoid being arrested. The entire situation was made more suspicious by the fact that Koda’s key accomplices, Binod Sinha and Sanjay Chaudhary, are on the run.

A couple of days ago, Binod’s brother Vikas was nabbed, following which details regarding the scame has begun surfacing.

Vikas Sinha has allegedly confessed on Monday that he laundered 40 crores for Koda by channeling the money into four fake companies. He also bought land for Koda in Jamshedpur and Ranchi.

Other details shared by Vikas: that Koda used channels in Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Liberia to launder his money; and that Koda traded in the bullions or commodities market in Mumbai, which is largely unorganized, and therefore hard to track.

Also interrogated on Monday, Devendra Mukhiya, a close aide of Koda’s who reportedly ran a finance company in Jamshedpur in which he invested Koda’s money.

“I have met Koda only two or three times. That does not make me an accused,” says Mukhiya.