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Income tax department claimed that it has found evidence of Rs 400 crore hawala transactions linked to former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda, TV reports say. Times Now says that this was revealed after the “detailed questioning” of Koda by the I-T sleuths on alleged hawala transactions and investments made by him and his associates. The department carried out countrywide searches on at least 70 premises associated with Koda yesterday and seized voluminous documents, computer peripherals and other records pertaining to bank details and investments.
The department issued notices to Koda and others for “detailed questioning” after the completion of scrutiny of the seized material, official sources said. Some questioning at the time of searches was done by tax officials but they were largely cursory. The notices were said have been sent under section 131 of the Income Tax Act 1961 which authorises the department to issue summons or to force attendance of any person for being examined on oath or to compel production of books of account and other documents.
The department yesterday had claimed that its had found evidence of Rs 4000 crore in 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.
