Madhu Koda a good friend: key accused Vinod Sinha

Vinod Sinha, a key accused along with MP Madhu Koda in a Rs.2,000 crore scam in Jharkhand, says the former chief minister "is a good friend" and that the scandal is politically motivated ahead of assembly polls from Nov 25.

"Koda is a good friend of mine. I belong to his (Singbhum) constituency and I know him well. The income tax (IT) department and Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids are poltically motivated and are aimed at defaming Koda and us," businessman Sinha told the Sadhna news channel Tuesday.

"The raids are motivated because of the coming assembly polls. There are people who do not want Koda to emerge stronger in our areas (Jamshedpur and Chaibaasa)," Sinha said on a day when Koda was admitted to hospital.

The IT department, which is probing corruption allegations against Koda and his associates, last week raided 70 places in eight cities and claimed to have discovered documents relating to illegal transactions worth Rs.2,000 crore.

Asked about allegations of illegal transactions, including hawala, Sinha said: "Where is the scam? Where is the proof? If the IT department has proof, then it should make us the accused and we will approach court.

"Why has the issue of hawala transactions been raised at the time of assembly polls?"

Asked about the IT department notice asking him and five others to appear before it Nov 6, he said: "I will appear personally before the income tax department before the given date and present my version. Through my representative, I wanted a questionnaire from the IT department which I could have answered, but they didn't entertain my request."

At the same time, he said: "There is no question of escaping (from the law). We assure cooperation to the income tax department."

Asked about the names of people who, according to Sinha, are trying to implicate them, he said, "Wait for some time and we will disclose everything.

"Koda can't be in a scam alone. A scam takes the support of many people, including IAS officials," Sinha said.

Ujjawal Choudhary, director in the IT department, had earlier said: "It seems the illegal transactions made in three Balaji companies and hawala transactions are fully under the control of Vinod Sinha."

IT officials have also seized documents worth Rs.550 crore sent through hawala to Dubai, Thailand, Malyasia and African countries.

Last updated on Nov 3^rd, 2009 at 18:50 pm IST--IANS