Yes, he is, really. Our favourite retired accountant has managed to get something right.
An investigation of his rise from rags to riches, however, threatens to expose a seamier side of Indian politics after Mr Koda was accused of taking as much as £390 million from public funds — a sum thought to be a record in a country in which tales of corrupt politicians are legion.
Mr Koda, who resigned as the chief minister of Jharkhand last year but remains an independent member of the Indian Parliament, is accused of abusing his position by illegally selling mining rights and siphoning the cash overseas. He and a group of alleged cronies are accused of taking bribes to award lucrative contracts to build roads, bridges and power lines that were never constructed.
Yup, it\’s offshore that facilitated this. If it wasn\’t for the corrupt crooks in places like The City, Delaware, Jersey and the Isle of Man none of this could have happened. So let\’s close them all down immediately!
According to reports, money was carried on buses from Jharkhand to Mumbai, where it could be laundered. The cash was then allegedly transferred to Dubai via hawalas, or illegal money brokers.
Hmm, sorry, what was that? You mean it wasn\’t white boys ripping off the poor and brown? It wasn\’t The City, Delaware, Jersey or the Isle of Man?
That even if they are all closed down this will still happen? Because, erm, there are crooks out there?
Well, that\’s a bit of a blow to his plans to reorganise the world\’s financial order then, isn\’t it?
Nicely put, Tim. I’d add that many of these so-called tax havens operate standards of financial disclosure and reporting that is superior to many “onshore” locations, such as have been described.
I can’t but suspect that there is one salient feature of the hawala system that he has neglected to state.
Erm. Hawala isn’t illegal — there’s a big Somalian hawala company with an office on Canary Wharf if I remember correctly — just unregulated.
Clearly we need to clamp down on these buses.