In nationwide raids, Income Tax sleuths on Wednesday swooped down on the offices of IPL franchisees Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, Deccan Chargers and Kings XI and also on companies handling the broadcast rights of the cash-rich cricket League.
Income Tax authorities broad-based its probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the Indian Premier League surveying offices and looking into documents in tandem with the Enforcement Directorate(ED) investigating the routing of funds from tax havens into the three-year-old league. The surveys were continuing.
The searches signalled a tense build-up to the expected showdown between embattled IPL chief Lalit Modi who is under pressure to resign and his detractors in the BCCI ahead of the April 26 meeting of the IPL's Governing Council. Summons were issued to the BCCI by the Income Tax authorities to furnish complete details of all eight original IPL franchisees.
The ED registered a case against IPL--the first-- under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to inquire into unauthorised transfer of foreign funds, Directorate sources said.
In Kolkata, a seven-member team of Tax officials surveyed the offices of Bollywood star Sharukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders and Cricket Association of Bengal.
There were simultaneous searches on the offices of the Red Chillies Entertainment which owns KKR at the Eden gardens and then on Gameplan, a sports management group which looks after KKR's affairs on Shakespeare Sarani.
In Chennai, Tax sleuths today surveyed the office of CSK owned by India Cements. BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan is the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of India Cements.
In Secunderabad, an IT team visited the office premises of Deccan Chargers Sporting Ventures limited. "Our investigation team was there in the Deccan Chargers office," an IT official said. Company officials denied any searches or raids.
IT officials also went for a survey of the Kings XI office in Gurgaon, sources said.
In Mumbai, the IT department searched the premises of companies associated with the IPL in the wake of allegations that telecasting agency Multi Screen Media had paid a facilitation fee of USD 80 million to marketing agency World Sports Group.
The searches were conducted at the office premises of Multi-Screen Media (MSM) in suburban Malad, the telecasting agency of IPL, World Sports Group (WSG), the marketing agency of IPL, International Management Group (IMG), the organising agency, and the Bandra house ofVenu Nair, CEO of WSG.
The raids are related to a "facilitation fee" of USD 80 million paid by MSM (formerly Sony Entertainment Television) to WSG, a source close to the development said.
"The Tax officials requested details of the contractual arrangements in relation to the BCCI and IPL and WSG cooperated fully with the investigating officers and will continue to do so," a WSG statement said.
The ED case is the first by it against IPL after it received preliminary information that foreign funds without permission of RBI might have trickled in, sources said.
There have been reports that funds from tax havens like Mauritius have been pumped into the league by various franchisees in violation of FEMA provisions.
Casting its net wide in the IPL probe, the Income Tax sleuths on Wednesday searched the premises of three companies associated with the league to uncover alleged financial irregularities in the cash-rich T20 entity.
IT officials searched the offices of Multi-Screen Media, formerly Sony Entertainment Television, International Management Group and World Sports Group (WSG), all of which are closely connected to the Lalit Modi-led IPL.
MSM is the telecasting agency of IPL, while WSG is its marketing arm. IMG is the organising agency of the IPL.
The tax officials requested details of the contractual arrangements in relation to the BCCI and IPL, a WSG statement said.
WSG strongly refutes the allegation of any impropriety in relation to its deals in IPL, it said.
Besides, the IT sleuths also conducted an identical operation at the Bandra residence of Venu Nair, WSG's Chief Executive Officer.
A number of documents were seized by the IT officials during the operations, a source close to the development told PTI, adding while the search at MSM is still on, it is over at other places.
The operations, he said, were related to alleged payment of "facilitation fee" of USD 80 million by MSM to WSG.
In 2008, WSG bagged IPL television rights for 10 years with a USD 918 million bid and a promise to spend USD 108 million on the event. It also signed a deal with MSM making Sony the official broadcaster. PTI
