Bharatiya Janata Party leader Saryu Rai on Monday released a CD that allegedly has statements linking the money laundering scam in which former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda is involved with one “Guruji”.
In the context of Jharkhand, Chief Minister Shibu Soren is widely known as
‘Guruji’.
The CD reportedly has statements of Mumbai-based hawala trader Manoj Punamiya, accused in the same scandal as Koda, on his illegal payments to ‘Guruji’.
Rai told HT that he would submit the CD to officials in the enforcement directorate (ED), income-tax department, and the vigilance department.
A voice allegedly of Punamia was heard as saying: “I had done hawala transactions worth Rs 10 crore during the nuclear deal and the money was paid to ‘Guruji’ in Delhi by a driver named Dharmendra on the instructions of Binod Sinha (an associate of Koda).”
Hawala refers to illegal trade in foreign exchange. “Ujjawal Choudhary (income-tax officer) could not be managed through money,” the voice said.
Choudhary was probing the Koda scam till he was shifted out of the investigation process.
Rai had alleged on Sunday that Choudhary was shifted because there was evidence that politicians other than Koda were involved. “One of them is in the Jharkhand government.”
The BJP is a partner in the Jharkhand government.
The voice said he had done the money transfers for ‘Baba’ (another name given to Soren) and ‘Guruji’. Sanjay Choudhry (another associate of Koda) was aware of the impending trouble and fled to Dubai, according to the recorded voice.