E-Paper
No FBI team in K’taka to probe Bitcoin scandal: CBI official
The development comes two days after former minister and Congress legislator from Chittapur in Karnataka, Priyank Kharge, had shared on Twitter that the FBI were in Karnataka to probe the Bitcoin scandal
No investigating team from America is probing into the alleged Bitcoin scandal involving Karnataka chief minister (CM) Basavaraj Bommai, said an official from Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday.
The development comes two days after former minister and Congress legislator from Chittapur in Karnataka, Priyank Kharge, had shared on Twitter that the FBI were in Karnataka to probe the scandal. “This is to inform that (the) FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) has not sent any team to India for conducting a probe in the matter (Bitcoin) nor has any request been made by FBI to CBI for conducting investigation in this case in India,” the CBI released a statement on Sunday.
“Accordingly, the question of according any permission for the probe by Competent Authority in India does not arise. CBI as the National Central Bureau for Interpol in India coordinates closely with international law enforcement agencies including FBI (sic),” the CBI added.
Reacting to the CBI statement, Kharge posted on Twitter: “Interesting. Which “reports” are the CBI citing & denying that the FBI has not been to India regarding the #Bitcoin case (sic)?”
The BJP didn’t react to the comment.
His earlier post on the microblogging site had caused a stir in the state. “I believe the FBI is in Delhi to investigate the billion dollar #BitCoinScam. Like I said before, if the state investigates the matter diligently, a lot of BJP’s skeletons will tumble out,” Kharge had tweeted on Friday.
“The layers of #BitcoinScam are finally being unearthed! Let India’s HM & CM Bommai answer- 1. Is FBI in India to investigate India’s biggest #Bitcoin Scam Coverup under Karnataka BJP Govt? If so, release details of the investigation & suspects, including political people (sic)?” Randeep Singh Surjewala, the national general secretary of the Congress and in-charge of Karnataka said the same day.
Last year in November there were allegations that several senior BJP leaders, including Bommai, were allegedly involved in laundering ‘ill-gotten money through cryptocurrencies’ with the help of a Bengaluru-based hacker, Srikrishna aka Sriki. The Congress had alleged that the hacker was allegedly involved in money laundering. Sriki was arrested by the central crime branch (CCB) in November last year. He is accused of hacking into government portals, sourcing drugs via the dark net and paying for it through cryptocurrency.
Accusing the state government of covering up the issue, Surjewala sought an independent probe by a Supreme Court monitored special investigation team (SIT).
“Bitfinex was my first big bitcoin exchange hack; the exchange was hacked twice, and I was the first person to do so,” Sriki’s confession of the 2016 hacking of the Bitcoin exchange read. Around 120,000 bitcoins, worth $72 million at the time, were stolen from Bitfinex in August 2016.
As per Sriki, “The second instance was a simple spear-phishing attack that led to two Israeli hackers working for the army getting access to the computers of one of the employees, which gave them access to the AWS cloud account.” It was this hacking instance that made Srikrishna a person of interest in the political battle between the Congress and ruling BJP. The Congress has alleged that Bengaluru police, who had information about his (Sriki’s) involvement in December 2020, didn’t reveal this information to central enforcement agencies until April 2021.
The Opposition has also alleged that ₹9 crore worth of bitcoins seized from Sriki, following his arrest were not shown in the charge sheet neither was the evidence submitted before the court.
