NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation sent documents to Interpol for issuing red corner notice against former Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi who is accused of financial irregularities in the IPL.
“We sent the documents to Interpol after legal scrutiny,” said a senior agency official. CBI is the nodal agency for Interpol related affairs in India.
The Enforcement Directorate asked the CBI to issue red corner notice against Modi against whom non-bailable arrest warrant was issued early this month by a Mumbai court for his alleged involvement in the financial irregularities in the IPL.
A red corner notice is issued against offenders who can be arrested and extradited to the country where they are wanted. Once the red corner notice is issued the Interpol can arrest the offender in any part of the world and inform the country asking it to take his custody for further action at their end.
An Enforcement Directorate (ED) official said Modi had not presented himself before the agency for his alleged involvement in money laundering case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The agency had filed a case under PMLA, in connection with a multi-crore rupees television rights deal. The case relates to a 2008 deal between World Sports Group and Multi Screen Media for television rights of IPL worth Rs 425 crore. BCCI had filed a case in Chennai in 2010 under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and two years later the ED registered a case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act in the matter.
In 2008, the BCCI awarded 10-year media rights to World Sports Group for USD 918 million. In the same year, World Sports Group entered into a deal with Multi Screen Media to make Sony the official broadcaster. The contract was replaced a year later with a nine-year deal where Multi Screen Media paid USD 1.63 billion.
The agency started a probe in 2009 under Foreign Exchange Management Act to investigate allegations that payment of Rs 425 crore facilitation fees by Multi Screen Media Singapore to World Sports Group Mauritius was made in an illegal way. The payments were made to unauthorised beneficiaries and not the cricketing regulating bodies as per the terms of the contract.
The ED is probing Modi into the allegations that he had told selective bidders how much to bid and win during the first IPL team auction in 2008. The agency is also probing that whether Modi has used illegal money to buy his corporate jet through a Cayman Islands Company. Not only that, the agency is also probing the investment of Rs 10 crore made by Modi's wife in Indian heritage hotel through a Mauritius-based company.