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IPL founder Lalit Modi is preparing to return to India after 16 years. An appellate tribunal on 16 July delivered its verdict in the FEMA case related to the South Africa staging of IPL 2009. In this, giving relief to Modi, the fine imposed by ED was cancelled.
After the decision, Lalit Modi said that now the way for his return to India has been cleared and he can return to India by the end of this year or the beginning of next year. He told that his daughter is going to give birth to a child in October, after which he is planning to come to India.
It was a matter of sending money from India to South Africa
This case is related to moving IPL from India to South Africa in 2009. At that time, due to the Lok Sabha elections, the tournament was shifted from India to South Africa due to security reasons. BCCI had sent about Rs 243.45 crore to South Africa for its organization.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) later alleged that the amount was sent abroad without prior approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), thereby violating the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). ED issued notice in 2011 and fined some former BCCI officials including Lalit Modi in 2018.
Tribunal said- Lalit is not personally responsible
Lalit Modi said that the tribunal rejected the most important argument of ED, which changed the basis of the entire case.
According to him, the Appellate Tribunal said in its decision that the amount sent to South Africa was a ‘current account transaction’ and not a ‘capital account transaction’. Therefore, it was not necessary to take prior approval of RBI for this.
Lalit Modi said,
The tribunal also held that he was not personally responsible for ensuring legal compliance under FEMA on behalf of BCCI, nor did he have the financial powers that the ED had claimed. This ended the biggest legal case involving the South African IPL of 2009.
The tribunal’s decision removes one of the biggest legal hurdles facing Lalit Modi since he left India in 2010. However, this decision is limited only to the FEMA case of IPL 2009. ED had also started several other investigations against Lalit Modi.
Other cases related to Lalit Modi
1. IPL broadcast rights case
When the IPL started in 2008, the broadcast rights to show the matches on TV were given to the World Sports Group (WSG). WSG gave the rights to show the match in India to Sony. In 2009, just before the second season of IPL, Lalit Modi canceled the agreement with Sony and again signed an agreement with WSG without floating the tender.
ED alleged that FEMA and money laundering related rules were violated in the process of granting media and broadcast rights of IPL. In this, WSG got a profit of Rs 425 crore. Later, the special court had also issued a non-bailable warrant against him in this case.
2. BCCI disciplinary action
After several controversies related to IPL came to light in 2010, BCCI suspended Lalit Modi and started an internal investigation against him.
In the investigation, BCCI alleged that Lalit Modi did not follow the rules in many cases while running the IPL. These included allegations related to broadcast rights, teams’ bids, tender process and financial decisions.
After nearly three years of investigation and hearing, in 2013 the BCCI Disciplinary Committee banned Lalit Modi for life from all cricket activities.
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