Nation-wide raid on offices of IPL franchisees

New Delhi, Apr 19 (PTI) In a nation-wide raid, 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 Board of Control for Cricket in India (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. PTI TEAM
AHM


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