ED slaps fine of Rs 121 crore on BCCI, former officials accused of violating FEMA law in 2009 edition of IPL
New Delhi, June 1: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has gone tough against the Board Of Control For Cricket In India (BCCI) and its former higher authorities and slapped a penalty of over 121 crore rupees for violation of the FEMA law in the 2009 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Notably, the central probe agency on Thursday slapped a penalty of over 121 crore rupees on the BCCI, its former president N Srinivasan, former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi and others for violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) law in the 2009 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The BCCI was slapped a fine of Rs 82.66 Cr while its former president N Srinivasan will have to pay a fine of Rs 11.53 Cr. Former chairman of the IPL Lalit Modi, former BCCI treasurer MP Pandove and the State Bank of Travancore were also slapped with the dine of Rs 10.65 Cr, Rs 9.72 Cr, Rs 7 Cr respectively. ED has asked all the accused to deposit the fine amount in the government exchequer within 45 days time.
BACKGROUND:
The Enforcement Directorate was investigating regarding the alleged transfer of a sum of Rs 243 crores to Cricket South Africa without prior permission of the RBI, ahead of an IPL tournament in 2009. During the investigation, ED in 2011 had also issued a show cause notices to Modi and the BCCI under provisions of FEMA law.
Later, the Bombay High Court allowed ED to summon several former BCCI officials including Shashank Manohar and then secretary N Srinivasan as witnesses in the case. However, in March this year, former IPL Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sundar Raman and former IPL commissioner Chirayu Amin had appeared before the Special Director of the ED in Mumbai for cross-examination by Modi's lawyers in the case.
Importantly, the T-20 Indian Premiere League (IPL) cricket tournament began in the year 2008 and saw its 11th edition wrapping up recently with Chennai Super Kings emerging as a winner.