New Delhi, November 01: Income tax department claimed that it has found evidence of Rs 400 crore hawala transactions linked to former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda, according to TV reports say.
The department had claimed on Saturday that its had found evidence of Koda’s hawala transaction and investments after searches were conducted at Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Lucknow, Nasik, Ranchi, Chaibasa and Jamshedpur.
IT authorities added the department will also initiate the unlocking of seized lockers at various places of the former Chief Minister and his associates.
“Some documents showed about Rs 100 crore in foreign exchange being sent by hawala transactions to Dubai, Thailand and Malayasia,” tax officials said after the searches on Saturday.
The searches were held after the Enforcement Directorate registered a case against Koda and his associates Sanjay Choudhary and Vinod Kumar Sinha on October 9 on charges of making huge illegal investments abroad.
The ED had filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), which is equivalent to an FIR, before the Prevention of Money Laundering Act court in Ranchi against Koda and eight others.
The countrywide raids by Income Tax teams on the houses of Madhu Koda and his associates continued for the second day on Sunday and he is expected to be summoned soon for “detailed questioning”.
The IT department will issue notices to Koda and others for “detailed questioning” after the completion of scrutiny of the seized material, official sources said in New Delhi.
Koda was chief minister between September 2006 and August 2008. Currently an Independent member of the Lok Sabha, Koda had held the mines portfolio twice in two governments, led by Arjun Munda between 2003 and 2006.
—Agencies