Hawala dealer from Indonesia and Koda’s CA key to probe

Sources said Naredi — questioned on November 2 — was instrumental in the arrest of key Koda associate Vikas Sinha who was questioned by the ED on Monday. During his interrogation,Naredi is said to have admitted that he servd as accountant for Koda and brothers Binod Sinha and Vikas Sinha. And that Rs 11.80 crore was the Sinhas’ “undisclosed income.”

Naredi,sources said,has admitted to making “fake book entries” to the tune of Rs 4.80 crore against companies which existed only on paper. He’s reported to have revealed that the Sinhas spent Rs 7.34 crore of their undisclosed income to buy Shiv Rama Sponge.

The acquisition of the 53 properties owned by the two arrested Cabinet colleagues of Koda — Enos Ekka and Hari Narayan Rai — registered in either their own names or those of their relatives has begun. Officials say they have so far listed eight properties linked to Koda or a member of his immediate family and at least for one of these,payment was made by Binod Sinha by cheque.

In the web of companies under scrutiny,is Mumbai-based Balaji Bullion that has emerged as the flagship firm of Koda’s aides. Since hawala dealer Arvind Vyas is said to have admitted to trade worth Rs 1,500 crore by this firm,the Customs and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) are being brought in.

“The DRI is being asked to establish whether bullion exports were actually done or whether fake exports were shown in books with money being routed via hawala channels to Naredi,” an investigator said.

Balaji Bullion had made an ambitious pitch for an SEZ in Noida and documents seized during searches on October 31 show that its directors (Binod Sinha,Manoj Punamia and Sanjay Chaudhary) pegged their company’s worth as $350 million. There is now evidence to show that Balaji Bullion opened an office in Noida as well as one in Sweden.

Besides getting look-out notices issued in the names of some of Koda’s absconding associates,the ED is preparing Letters Rogatory for Liberia,Dubai,Indonesia,Singapore and Thailand. Warrants are also being issued to question Binod Sinha,Sanjay Chaudhary and Dhananjay Chaudhary.