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ShareCorruption in public life has almost become a norm, shockingly so. But even with the bizarre tales of corruption that do the rounds, the details of illegal assets of former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, amounting to an astronomical thousands of crores of rupees, are indeed astounding.
He seems to have accumulated much of his Himalayan hoard during the anomalous period he was chief minister from 2006 to 2008 and led a government as an independent candidate. The alleged billionaire with his unaccounted wealth is not yet 40 years old.
The allegations, as yet unproven show how the son of a simple farmer rose to this level in such a short time. That this should happen in a state with rich resources and extremely poor tribal people of Jharkhand is doubly fantastic.
The state was formed just nine years ago with the explicit assumption that the tribal-dominated area was being neglected as part of a larger Bihar and that local leaders, with an understanding of local issues, would be best equipped to run it for the welfare of the citizens.
Instead, the leaders who had pressed for a tribal state for its people have acquired the unenviable reputation of practising corruption of high proportion and who seem to vie to outdo each other in sleaze.
Koda is part of a corrupt system which involves not just other politicians, but also bureaucrats, businessmen and sundry money-changers, who operate across the country and beyond as well. This was a sophisticated operation which used hawala operators in the commercial capital of the country, Mumbai, who had links abroad. The tentacles of corruption are thus spread deep and wide.
Who are the people then who sustain this system? There are businessmen, industrialists, bureaucrats, middlemen contractors and politicians, all of whom understand the value of the mineral wealth of the state. It is not to be missed that in many other states -- Karnataka is a recent case -- mining groups have emerged as the new rich who like to dabble in politics.
Allegations against corruption at high levels are not new. Regrettably, few if not none of these allegations get proven or result in justice being meted out. In a case of these proportions, gathering evidence should not be difficult, if there is a political will to do so, of course. Bringing the guilty to justice will be the big challenge for the investigating agencies.
