New Delhi: Vikash Sinha, an associate of
former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, was on Sunday brought
to the national capital for interrogation by the Enforcement
Directorate in the alleged hawala and illegal investments case
running into more than Rs 2,000 crore.
Vikash, has been brought from the Jharkhand capital to
the ED's zonal office here, after a Ranchi local court gave
the Directorate his custody for 10 days.
Sources said his interrogation has begun.
The ED has framed charges against Vikash, brother of
Koda aide Binod Sinha, under sections 409 (criminal breach of
trust), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 120-B (criminal
conspiracy) of the IPC and other provisions of the Prevention
of Corruption Act.
"He will be interrogated about money laundering and
Hawala deals that he carried out on behalf of Koda and his
men. He is the link to the activities of one of Koda's main
associates and his brother Binod Sinha, who is still to depose
before us," an ED source said.
Vikash has accepted during questioning by the IT
department that he carried a cash of Rs 40 crore from Ranchi
to Kolkata and transferred the money for alleged hawala
transaction on behalf of his brother Binod and Koda, the ED
had claimed earlier.
During the 10-day custody period, Vikash may also be
taken to places in and outside the national capital for
gathering evidence, the sources added.
According to the ED, Vikash, in his Income Tax returns,
mentioned Rs 5,66,526 as income during 2006-07 and it
quadrupled to Rs 24 lakh during 2007-08.
The ED, while obtaining Vikash's custody, had told the
local Ranchi court that he was working with others for
laundering proceeds of the crime.
Persons who brought cash for Binod and family members
were introduced by Vikash. His finances are not from legal
sources of income, the sources had claimed.
Sources said Vikash allegedly filed false entries to the
tune of Rs 4.80 crore from companies which exist only on
papers and no business activity is carried out by them.
ED, I-T to share Koda info
To widen the probe against
former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and his associates
for alleged illegal investments worth Rs 2,000 crores, the IT
department and ED will share information with various
Central economic intelligence agencies.
More than a week after the Income Tax department
conducted nationwide searches at more than 70 properties of
Koda and his aides, intelligence and enforcement agencies like
the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau, Financial
Intelligence Unit-India, will have access to the findings of
the searches, sources in the Finance Ministry said.
The Directorate General of Intelligence (Central
Excise) and Narcotics Control Bureau will also have access to
the findings of the searches.
"As the initial investigation has found national and
international investments in this case, it is essential to
check and verify the sources, routing and final destination of
such huge amount of money," the sources said.
Every agency, which would share the inputs from the ED
and the IT department, would be asked to carry out thorough
checks according to their respective mandates, they said.
Market regulator SEBI and the RBI may also be informed
as the seizures have shown a lot of investment by Koda and his
associates in the share market and they are also in the
possession of multiple bank accounts, they said.
While FIU-IND is the central agency responsible for
receiving, processing, analysing and disseminating information
relating to suspect financial transactions, the CEIB has been
established to coordinate and strengthen the intelligence
gathering activities as well as investigative efforts of all
agencies which enforce economic laws.
The DGCEI gathers intelligence relating to evasion of
central excise duties and service tax and the NCB checks the
funding of money into illegal psychotropic substances trade.
With such a sharing of information, the probe agencies
would be able to collect more evidence and obtain further
links of the money that would have changed many hands in the
case, the sources said.
Bureau Report