Here's why ED slapped 121-crore penalty on BCCI

The Board of Control for Cricket in India and its officials did not open a separate bank account in South Africa after transferring Rs 243 crore from here for the 2009-IPL edition to evade the scrutiny of Indian regulatory agencies, the ED said as it slapped a Rs 121 crore FEMA penalty on the cricket regulator and others.

Former BCCI boss Narayanaswami Srinivasan and IPL ex-commissioner Lalit Modi were among those who were been penalised by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as part of its order issued on Thursday.

It was issued for alleged violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) during the second edition of T-20 cricket extravaganza that was held only once on a foreign soil. All other IPL editions have taken place in the country.

"Investigation revealed that the BCCI and the concerned officials of BCCI did not open any bank account in South Africa to meet the expenses for the conduct of IPL-2 in South Africa and instead transferred huge amounts of foreign exchange to Cricket South Africa (CSA) and this money was routed into another dedicated bank account opened by CSA in the name of CSA-IPL.

"Thereafter, by virtue of an agreement between the BCCI and the CSA, the former exercised full control over the operation of this foreign bank account and thereby avoided scrutiny of these expenses by any Indian authority," the ED said in a statement issued late on Thursday.

A special director of the central probe agency here levied a penalty of Rs 82.66 crore on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Rs 11.53 crore on its former chairman N Srinivasan, Rs 10.65 crore on IPL ex-commissioner Lalit Modi, Rs 9.72 crore on former BCCI treasurer M P Pandove, Rs 7 crore on the State Bank of Travancore (now merged with the SBI) and Rs 10 lakh on the then manager of the bank.

The total penalty amount was Rs 121.56 crore, the agency said.

The ED was investigating the case for the alleged contravention of the FEMA in transferring over Rs 243 crore out of the country to host the 2009 Indian Premier League (IPL) edition out of India.

The FEMA order stated that this transfer of funds was in alleged violation of the RBI guidelines meant for transferring funds abroad.

The order has asked the accused to deposit the fine amount in the government exchequer within 45 days. They can also appeal against the order before the designated authority of the ED.

The T-20 IPL cricket tournament, that began in 2008, saw its 11th edition wrapping up recently.