Lalit Modi involved in betting, murky deals: I-T report

NEW DELHI: ‘Mr Lalit Modi has had a trail of failed ventures and defaults till four years back but has a lifestyle now that includes a private jet, a luxury yacht and a fleet of Mercedes S class and BMW cars all acquired in the last three years.’

Thus opens a highly confidential and explosive report by the income-tax department that has been in the possession of the government for six months now but formed the basis of any action only on Thursday evening after a raging controversy over secret ownerships and sweetheart deals in the Indian Premier League, or IPL, stalled both houses of Parliament.

Highly-placed sources in the I-T department and the Congress party told ET that Mr Modi has been on the government radar for quite sometime. The alleged opaqueness with which he conducted the multi-billion dollar cricket tournament and the manner in which he took on home minister P Chidambaram in 2009 seem to have resulted in a detailed enquiry into his activities by the I-T department.

The report, whose contents were described to ET reporters, paints a startling picture of the alleged activities of the controversial IPL commissioner, ranging from his manipulation of land deals in Rajasthan and the existence of a maze of shell companies and offshore entities used to route payments and equity stakes worth hundreds of crores of rupees. The report also makes the startling allegation that Mr Modi—through his associates—was ‘involved’ in ‘betting’, while “insider information and outcome fixing of IPL matches were hinted atâ€. The six-month-old report, which I-T sleuths maintain is the basis of current investigations, is obviously referring to betting and insider information in the first two IPL tournaments, not the current one.

In preparing the report, investigators seem to have accessed his email account, confidential conversations on a UK-registered cell phone number and regulatory filings from across the globe, from Mauritius to Ireland to the US. Some other Indian cell phone numbers have also been unearthed which the I-T sleuths claim Mr Modi “keeps changingâ€. The report alleges that Mr Modi is “apparently deeply embroiled in both generation of black money, money laundering, betting in cricket (match fixing of certain IPL matches)â€.

An email sent to Lalit Modi remained unanswered on Sunday evening. His lawyer was also sent the same email. A number of his associates named in the report might come under the scanner as the investigation, which started with visits to Mr Modi’s offices on Thursday evening, progresses through the coming weeks. Even though the report detailed the premises the tax department wanted to raid and sought permission to go ahead, political clearance was not granted until junior minister for external affairs Shashi Tharoor stepped into IPL’s murky quicksand and with him dragged the government and the Congress party into one of the biggest scandals in recent times.

“This is not just a Pandora’s box but a Pandora’s chest that has been opened,†said a senior Congress leader who has knowledge of the report. “This will indict everyone,†he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. When contacted about the contents of this report, the official spokesperson of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Shishir Jha, SMSed a terse ‘no comment’ to the ET reporter.

The report refers to one Deepa Raizada as a close associate of Mr Modi “who handles his cross-border transactions and offshore companiesâ€. Ms Raizada is CEO of Modi Entertainment Networks and has worked at the firm for nearly 10 years, according to two persons who work at the company. The I-T report says she has previously worked with Equity Associates, a boutique investment firm based out of Ontario, Canada. Ms Raizada did not take calls made on her mobile number and did not respond to a text message from the ET reporter. Her home phone remained unreachable through Sunday and an email sent to an id listed under her name on the Modi Group’s website bounced.

A league of extraordinary betting?

What will come as most disturbing to cricket fans is that the report suggests pervasive betting and outcome fixing in the IPL. According to the report, Modi himself is involved through Samir Thukral, a Delhi-based “page 3 personality†with an “opulent lifestyle despite having no apparent source of incomeâ€.

Mr Thukral is a permanent fixture at all IPL matches with VIP access, the report says, adding that he “carries out the betting on behalf of Lalit Modiâ€. I-T sleuths are investigating “a lot of matches of IPL, especially involving the three teams in which Modi has an interestâ€. The mobile number listed in the report against Thukral actually belongs to Samir Thukral, a co-founder of Shree Capital Advisors, a Delhi-based private equity advisory firm.

His bio-data says he has interests in online lottery business and real estate. “I have known Lalit for 30 years and he is a good friend. And yes, of course, I went to South Africa for IPL matches, but these are wild and baseless allegations,†Mr Thukral told ET. On Sunday afternoon, Rahul Nayar, founder of Shree Capital Advisors, told ET that Mr Thukral doesn’t work for him anymore. He refused to answer other queries and hung up on ET reporters. Mr Thukral, however, maintained that he is the co-promoter of Shree Capital Advisors.

Ownership issues

The report alleges that Modi has silent ownership in three IPL teams—Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab. According to the report, Rajasthan Royals’ owner Emerging Media is controlled by Manoj Badale, Mumbai Education Trust and Ranjit Thakre, a former employee of ITC Ltd. It says a 25% stake in the team is with “hidden owner†Suresh Chellaram, a Nigeria-based co-brother-in-law of Mr Modi. Manoj Badale did not respond to an email seeking comment from ET.

Incidentally, Rajasthan Royals won the first IPL tournament in 2008. The report also says Kolkata Knight Rider’s co-owner Jay Mehta, who is married to actor Juhi Chawla, is “partly fronting†for Lalit Modi. Industrialist Jay Mehta denies these allegations. According to an official response from KKR, the team is wholly-owned by actor Shah Rukh Khan and Mr Mehta and there are no other shareholders. “Kolkata Knight Riders is owned by Mr Shah Rukh Khan and The Sea Islands Ltd (a company incorporated in Mauritius), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mehta International Ltd—the holding company of the Mehta Group. The shareholding pattern is as follows: Mr Shah Rukh Khan-55%; Sea Islands Ltd-45%. There are no other investors in Knight Riders Sports Private Limited,†said a spokesperson of KKR.

The report claims that Modi owns a stake in Kings XI Punjab through Akash Arora, owner of Delhi-based BPO Netlink Blue. Arora is a part-owner of the team along with Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman, according to the report. “Akash does not and has never owned a stake in our team,†said Mohit Burman. He, however, declined to categorically state that 100% of the team’s ownership rests solely with himself, Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia and Karan Paul.

Mohit’s younger brother, Gaurav Burman, who is married to Lalit Modi’s stepdaughter, told ET that he also owns a stake in the Mohali team. He volunteered this information while responding to allegations in the report that he is linked to Betfair, a UK firm that runs one of the world’s largest betting syndicates on the Internet. As readers of ET would know, betting is a legal activity in the UK. The report says that according to information contained in Modi’s email account, the IPL chairman is helping Betfair, which is seeking to enter the casino and hospitality business in India.

“Gaurav Burman is to receive equity on behalf of Lalit Modi,†the report says. “This is completely baseless, I have no links whatsoever with Betfair,†Gaurav Burman told ET. From Modi’s emails, the tax department also accessed details of a transaction relating to the purchase of a luxury yacht in Malta that is to be delivered in Mumbai or Dubai.

Conflicts of interest

WSG and IMG, two companies that received BCCI contracts, are both old business partners in Modi’s own businesses. Modi Entertainment Networks runs Fashion TV in India. IMG did business with Fashion TV for years before it won the contract for managing IPL. IMG, a powerful global firm with interests in sports, media and entertainment, was to get 10% of IPL’s revenues as management fee. In July 2008, following murmurs that this was too sweet a deal, BCCI terminated the contract.

The two parties later renegotiated and IMG was back in the game with a substantially reduced fee.According to the report, WSG, which owns IPL’s overseas rights, was owed $2.5 million by Modi Entertainment Network from an earlier transaction over which Modi had lost litigation both in India and the UK. The report alleges that by awarding WSG rights at favourable terms, Modi was settling the old dues from his private business. Netlink Blue, whose owner Akash Arora is a part-owner of Kings XI Punjab, according to the report, is another firm that has received favourable BCCI contracts.

“The close links of Modi with Netlink are established through a series of emails wherein Lalit has illegally given Netlink live feeds of Australia-India series before BCCI president intervened and stopped this illegal sale of rights,†the report says. Sure enough, the favour is not without a quid pro quo. “From Netlink, a part of payoff is by way of a commitment to bail out Mr Modi’s sick venture Voyages TV through cash injection of Rs 8 crore in the form of equity,†the report says, citing emails that were available to I-T sleuths.
Source

So the 'Madari' of IPL Tamasha is finally in a soup.
i hope he doesnt know how to swim.

But If this indeed is true.. wonder whats gonna happen to the Int'l Players from different countries. Some teamwork this would be.
 
Now i want to hear from all the Fans of IPL ..
seems like they all were crying hoarse for something which wasnt honestly done.

All the emotions and the adrenaline.. all went into filling this cheapo's pocket.
 
Dont be surprise if he gets out clean....He and PAWAR are partners(other partners in background is narendra modi and adani groups)...

And no individual can stand in front of PAWAR
 
Tharoor has been removed so that Lalit Modi could be cut to size. Govt was simply cleaning its house before it sets sights on IPL boss... stay tuned for the fun in coming days :p
 
I will follow and watch IPL for sure from now on. Not the matches ofc. :devil:
But Sachin is playing too .. so is Dravid ... so does that mean ..

Naah.. maybe not everybody is dirty..
 
^^ Lol just see IPL along with Modi will take the full central Govt down :p BJP and Left will have a gr8 time ahead and ya we are waiting with pop-corn :D

If they try to bring down Modi...Pawar will come in between and threaten to pull the govt down and then our Mrs Sonia will just make a dummy scapegoat out of somebody :rofl:
 
Isn't this BS over yet? The news channels have been taking the entire country for a ride with there tabloid journalism. What is the BJP's priority? They and the left should be focusing on the cut motion rather than the cricket business. Tharoor is gone, it's over. Modi is the brain-child and the magnet behind the IPL and the BCCI has more to gain with him in the game than him outside of it.
 
Hmm... at least Tharoor caused this entire nastiness open to public one way or other. I never did find any issues with that man even though new channels were continuously putting him on a stake.

Till date I was thinking everything is neat and professional in IPL excluding some minor and expected business /political interests.

This even reach to this point: Vijay Mally's step daughter take out files before an IT raid. What all were at stake ? All looks nasty.
 
Big surprise that a man with a shady past once charged with possession of cocaine, kidnap and assault isn't honest! :rofl:
 
Have they proved any of those charges though?

Here's what i think..the auctions definitely seem to have been fixed, but the matches weren't.
 
I LOLed at all the people here wasting their time watching IPL, hahahahahaha .

Dhakkan DisChargers my ar$e.

Lol even EPL involves billions of dollar in betting and may be fixing :p ....that doesn't stop ppl all over from watching it :rofl:...btw what do u watch :rofl:
 
i was watching the news now - its funny how the media glorifies someone to the extent of making the person in question sound like god---Times Now quoted how Mr.Modi had changed the way cricket was played and perceived in India and how he revolutionized the concept of the game (they were wrong here he just nicked the idea from EPL) and now they will walk the extra mile to crucify him!
 
I enjoyed watching cricket only in the 90's when i was a kid.

This IPL never interested me from the start and for the first time i did watch a few matches at the start of this season just to see what the hype all bout. This was all just a big gimmick to me. True 20/20 does not have a predictable outcome but this is just way off. First of all i always ignored this competition since i felt it was a lame ripoff like NBA, NHL and MLB team names.

I hope they get fcked big time regarding these accusations.

There was a nice article regarding this just this last Sunday in TOI.

As for the sport all i can say is ppl should not fall to such marketing/moneymaking gimmicks just cause they love the sport. I prefer old skool 50/50s and competitive test cricket, not some ripoff shitty game with team names like "Mumbai Indians" as if the rest of us are Pakistanis :S .

IPL fans will be surely disappointed about this but it had to happen anyways down the line.
 
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