BCCI top brass grilled over FEMA violations in IPL

New Delhi, Jan 12 (PTI) The top brass of the IndianCricket Board (BCCI), including President Shashank Manohar,today appeared before a Parliamentary panel to answer queriesrelated to the organisation of the cash-awash Indian PremierLeague.

Apart from Manohar, BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan and IPLChairman Chirayu Amin were grilled over alleged ForeignExchange Management Act (FEMA) violations during the conductof the highly popular Twenty20 tournament.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, headedby BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, had also summoned IPL GoverningCouncil member former cricketer Ravi Shastri for a hearing.

The issue was with the Committee for long and it hadspoken to the Finance Ministry in the recent past. Today itcalled the bigwigs of BCCI for clarifications.

The BCCI was asked about the funding pattern of the IPLand the methods adopted for payment to foreign and Indianplayers.

The Committee asked BCCI officials if they were awareabout a government report that investments made by IPLfranchisees such as Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders,Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians were routed from outsideIndia through entities, located in countries such asMauritius, Bahamas, British Virgin Island.

They asked why the BCCI did not take approval from RBI,SIPB and other agencies for the above mentioned foreignexchange transactions.

It also asked how does the BCCI ensure that FDI receivedby the franchisees is not tainted money.

"Do you agree that large scale FEMA violations have beencommitted by the IPL Franchisees and their associates? If sowhat are the reasons thereof? What is the approach of theBCCI in this issue?," was another query.

The BCCI was also asked to explain the ownership andshareholding pattern of the IPL franchisees, saying that ithas noticed that in certain cases the investment have beenmade by some person/entity but share for corresponding moneyhave been issued in the name of some other persons/entities.

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