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WSG head admits receiving bribe for IPL TV rights

April 23, 2010

Venu Nair, World Sports Group (WSG) has reportedly told IT officials on Friday that Multi-Screen Media (MSM) did pay WSG Rs 225 crore or $80 million as kickbacks for IPL telecast rights.

The kickback money was apparently transferred to the personal holding account of Seamus O'Brien, the founder of WSG, and not into the company's account.

O'Brien's account is operated from the Virgin Islands.

On Thursday, the Income Tax department probing alleged irregular transactions in the IPL had received "convincing evidence" of payment of "facilitation fee" to World Sports Group (WSG) by Multi-Screen Media (MSM) for acquiring T20 league's telecast rights, a senior officer said in Mumbai.

"We have got convincing evidence of a facilitation fee of around $80 million paid by MSM to WSG," the official said on condition of anonymity.

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