MUMBAI- India's top financial policing agency is probing world cricket boss Narayanaswami Srinivasan and others over an alleged $69 million “facilitation fee” paid over broadcast rights for the Indian Premier League, an official said today.
The Enforcement Directorate has issued “show cause notices” to Srinivasan, disgraced former Indian Premier League (IPL) chief Lalit Modi, the country's cricket board and foreign media companies over the fee for the 2009 tournament, the official said.
Part of the fee was allegedly illegally siphoned off to unknown individuals, sparking the probe into the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) of which both Srinivasan and Modi were senior members, according to local media reports.
“Srinivasan, Modi and the BCCI have been issued the show cause notices,” an enforcement directorate officer told on condition of anonymity.
Former IPL chief operating officer Sunder Raman and president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Manjit Singh were also under the agency's scanner, the officer said.
“Notice issued to BCCI, MSMS Singapore, WSE Mauritius, Lalit Modi & others “over alleged breach of foreign currency regulations over the 4.25 billion rupee ($69 million) facilitation fee, the directorate said in a tweet on Monday.
The Multi Screen Media (MSM) of Sony Entertainment paid the fee to the Mauritius arm of World Sports Group (WSG) as part of a contract for taking over the broadcast rights of the IPL, the popular Twenty20 tournament overseen by the BCCI, local reports said.