The Koda Diaries

Nearly two decades after the Jain Hawala diary sullied the reputation and careers of several national politicians, another set of diary entries are threatening to do the same.

Investigators probing the Rs4,000-crore corruption case involving former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda have recovered a set of scribbled pages containing code names of several political leaders who helped Madhu Koda and his associates in carrying out the massive scam.

Eight of those crucial pages, in possession of DNA, contain names that investigators believe represent at least one union minister, a former Bihar chief minister, a former union minister, a senior Maharashtra politician, and at least one former journalist turned Member of Parliament.

The pages also contain details of money received by the Koda gang from various industrial houses, and the crores of rupees that were funnelled out of India through hawala channels.

The pages detail payments received and disbursed, under credit and debit, in coded entries during the days when Koda was the chief minister of Jharkhand. Investigators from the income tax department and Enforcement Directorate have spent the past several weeks deciphering the entries.

The Koda diary, alleged to be in the handwriting of key Koda aide Binod Sinha, who is missing, details payments of around Rs400 crore made and received in a period of almost six months between June and December 2007. Koda remained chief minister for a little over two years. These figures point towards the enormity of the Koda scam.

In the beginning, the pages detail payments received from a certain Goyalji in Delhi. Total payment is of Rs19 crore. Though written as 1900, investigators believe that an entry of ‘100’ was used to show a payment of Rs1 crore, made or received by Koda aides.

Investigators have identified the person but are not willing to reveal the identity so as not to compromise the investigations. They suspect this man to be closely linked to a Congress leader who is a member of the union cabinet, with strong ties to Bihar and Jharkhand.

Another code name used by the writer is Atul Bhai. He is also believed to be a front for the same union minister. He was paid Rs1 crore in two equal installments on November 7 and 11, 2007.

There is an entry for a payment of Rs8 crores, made in October and November 2007, to a person named Hemant. Investigators suspect this man to be a relative of a former union minister with a strong base in Jharkhand.

Interestingly, not all payments were made in cash. Some are specified as cheque payments. Investigators hope that once they nab the writer of these pages, it would be easier to track these cheque payments.

There are details of another ‘credit’ account of Hemant in these pages. This Hemant is specified as Hemant ‘LOKH’. Investigators believe that this Hemant could be someone based in Lokhandwala in Mumbai. He had paid to the ‘keeper’ of this record around Rs32 crore. Out of this amount, Rs12 crore was paid in cheque.

A name ‘Lalu’ also figures in the pages. A payment of Rs2 crores was made to someone named Vinayak in Delhi on October 22, 2007, and this is specified within brackets as ‘Lalu’ in Hindi. Investigators think that Vinayak might be an aide of Koda. They are yet to draw conclusions on the reference to Lalu. Vinayak was paid Rs3.2 crores during the period of these diary entries.

Another name that figures in the pages is of a certain ‘Kripashankar’. Entry under debit account says Kripashankar Surat was paid Rs50 lakhs on December 5, 2007. Another payment made to one Pramodji also figures in the diary. Investigators believe it refers to an ex-congressman. He is believed to be closely linked to a politician who has interests in the affairs of cricket.

Then there are details of payments received from a Singh Kanpur, who investigators believe is a hawala dealer. Two other big ticket payments are for a ‘Lucky Project’. The ‘bookkeeper’ made payments of around Rs21 crores for Lucky Project. In this account, two payments are specified in a bracket as for Vikas. Investigators suspect this person to be Vikas Sinha, brother of Binod Sinha, the alleged ‘bookkeeper’. Vikas is in the custody of Enforcement Directorate (ED).

These pages form part of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in the High Court in Ranchi by Durga Oroan, a social activist. According to Ritu Kumar, lawyer of Durga Oraon, they brought these pages to court seeking a CBI inquiry into the whole Koda affair. It is up to the investigating agencies to see whether these pages are a true account of payments or not. However, according to an investigator, so far they have found that the contents of the PIL are leading them in the right direction.