ED examines money trail to Indonesia in Koda graft case

The Enforcement Directorate is looking into the suspected tainted investments made by former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda in four Indonesian Islands with the help of his associate Anil Bastawde, arrested last month.

Bastawde, detained in Indonesia on January 21 on the basis of Red Corner Notice (RCN) issued by the Interpol, had been flown back to national Capital by an ED team on January 30.

Sources said ED sleuths Arun Kumar and SC Sinha, who had spent ten days in Indonesia to probe the Rs 4000 crore scam, had also visited the islands including Java to dig out the trail of investments Koda had made after alleged laundering of the money he accumulated as Jharkhand chief minister.  The agency is also verifying reports alleging that Bastwade had purchase some islands off Thailand.

Bastawde, who, after intense questioning by the ED sleuths in Ranchi where the case is registered, was sent to judicial custody on February 12. The directory is likely to confront Madhu Koda with the new details.

Sources in Ranchi said Koda, during the interrogation by ED officials including the joint director Vivek Prasad, had said that he along with Kaamlesh Kumar, Bhanu Pratap Singh and other associates used foreign destinations to launder money including Dubai, Liberia, Sweden and Switzerland.

The ED is planning to despatch another team to Sweden to ascertain how tainted money has been rinsed and invested for commercial purposes. A team of directorate officials had been to Liberia and Sweden in the past to check the progress in the requests they had made through Letters Rogatory to seek information on investments in those countries. The countries, however, did not reply to the LRs in the Koda case.