New Delhi: With the hawala scam of former
Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda turning murkier, Letters
Rogatory is likely to be issued to various countries including
Switzerland as part of the probe into the alleged multi-crore
illegal investments case against him and his associates.
Official sources said the Directorate is currently
preparing the necessary paperwork needed to send out the
Letters Rogetory (LR) to Indonesia, Thailand, Liberia, UAE and
Switzerland to get information on alleged investments
including acquisition of properties there by Koda and his
partners.
They said the ED has already sent out 'source
information' to all the above mentioned countries based on
seized documents including certain papers suggesting secret
Swiss Bank accounts.
While LR is a formal legal document issued through the
Court on behalf of an investigating agency to provide for
documents and sharing of relevant details with other
countries, 'source information' is the data obtained on an
informal basis by probe agencies worldwide.
Sources said the Directorate is also probing business
interests of Koda's close associates, who all have been booked
under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, in China,
Germany and Japan.
Meanwhile, a Income Tax team from Ranchi has arrived
in the national capital to share documents seized by the
department during its nationwide searches at over 70 premises
of the former CM and his associates.
The ED which has sent a team to Mumbai to collect
documents and bank statements of certain companies, floated by
the accused for illegal routing of money, have today issued
fresh summons of production to Koda's associates Manoj
Punamiya, Arvind Vyas and Lalit Jain for November 16.
Though the trio were initially asked to appear before
the Directorate on November 12, they had expressed their
inability to do so on health grounds, sources said.
Meanwhile, the ED has also resumed their questioning
of Koda's associate Vikash Sinha, who is currently under
Directorate's custody.
The ED had stopped their questioning because of
medical complication of Sinha, who is also being treated for
kidney stone.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, November 11, 2009, 22:14