From Indonesia to Dubai, Bastawade’s tainted cash trail
A key associate of former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda in laundering his tainted money in Dubai and Indonesia, had allegedly purchased coalmines in Indonesia. Sanjib Kr Baruah and Rajesh Ahuja reports.
Anil Bastawade, a key associate of former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda in laundering his tainted money in Dubai and Indonesia, had allegedly purchased coalmines in Indonesia for around Rs. 300 crore.
Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials believe Bastawade even paid an advance of Rs. 25 crore for these coalmines.
Bastawade was brought back to Delhi by a team of ED officials on Tuesday night from the Indonesian capital after being detained in Jakarta on January 20 on the basis of an Interpol red corner notice.
Documents accessed by HT show that Bastawade, besides buying coalmines in Indonesia, also owned a few firms in Dubai along with key Koda associates including Sanjay Chaudhary, Dhananjay Chaudhary, Manoj Punamiya and Binod Sinha.
Sources said Koda and his associates used to take money for fixing mining deals in Jharkhand. Through their contacts in bullion market, they sent the tainted money out of India on the pretext of gold imports.
Dubai-based sham firms like KGN Gems and Suryam Gems were used for the money transfer through banking channels. Later the funds were invested in the real estate market in Dubai and mines in Indonesia where Bastawade was a key player.
Another company jointly owned by Bastawade was Camtech Manufacturing, which was registered at the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai.
It is believed that the tentative share capital of the company is around R53 crore. The company got funds of about $1 million from Singapore to a bank account in Dubai again on the pretext of gold business. Investigators suspect that the money transfer happened on the instructions of Bastawade and he used the account of a gem and jewelry company for the money transfer.
Investigators want clarification from Bastawade on these deals. They will seek his custodyafter producing him before a special money laundering court in Ranchi on Wednesday.