IPL founder Lalit Modi looking forward to return to India

It has been nearly 16 years since Indian Premier League (IPL) founder and former chairman Lalit Modi left India amid allegations of financial irregularities, money laundering and violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

However, on Wednesday, Modi made an emotional statement expressing his intention to return to India after the Appellate Tribunal under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators – Forfeiture of Property – Act (SAFEMA) set aside most of the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) findings and penalties in connection with the 2009 IPL season in South Africa.

In a video shared by ANI, Modi welcomed the tribunal’s verdict and said he expected to return to India after October this year.

“I’m really happy with the verdict yesterday. It’s really been a great day. For 16 years, I have fought, and whatever I have been saying to the media and everybody has finally emerged as the truth. I’m really happy that the tribunal has ruled in my favour. I was only concerned with the well-being of the IPL and nothing else. That is the most dear to me,” Modi said.

“Now that chapter is behind me, I’m going to move on in my life, and I’m looking forward to coming back to India. I will probably come back at the end of this year or early next year. My daughter is due to have my grandson in October, and hopefully everything will be well, and I’ll be back in India,” he added.

Earlier on Tuesday, a bench comprising Chairman Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Member Rajesh Malhotra partly allowed appeals against an ED order dated May 31, 2018. The order had imposed penalties on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Lalit Modi, N Srinivasan, M P Pandove, the State Bank of India and its former Chief Manager A K Nazeer Khan over alleged violations of FEMA.

The case relates to the 2009 IPL season, which was moved from India to South Africa because of the Lok Sabha elections. The ED had alleged that the BCCI violated FEMA regulations while transferring funds overseas to organise the tournament and had imposed penalties running into several millions on the board and its officials.

The tribunal also cleared the authorised dealer bank and its officer of liability, ruling that the foreign remittances had been processed in the normal course of business and could not be treated as FEMA violations on their part.

However, the tribunal upheld the ED’s findings on two limited issues. It upheld a Rs40 million penalty on the BCCI for remitting an amount higher than what was recorded in its books of accounts. It also agreed that there had been a delay in repatriating ticket-sale proceeds to India, but reduced the BCCI’s penalty on that count from Rs40 million to Rs10 million, noting that the money was eventually brought back to the country.

The tribunal, however, set aside the penalty imposed on Modi over the delayed repatriation, observing that he had already been suspended and was no longer in charge when the funds were eventually repatriated.