BCCI slaps 5 charges on Modi

BCCI slaps 5 charges on Modi
PTI
MUMBAI, APRIL 26
IPL Czar Lalit Modi was today dethroned in a swift counter-attack by the Cricket Board (BCCI) which accused him of rigging bids for teams and a number of other serious financial irregularities during his three-year reign as IPL Chairman.
Suspended from his high-profile position in the middle of the night, ironically minutes after his third successful IPL concluded here, Modi was this morning replaced as interim Chairman by a virtually unknown, businessman Chirayu Amin one of the vice-presidents of BCCI.
The suspension pre-empted 46-year-old Modi’s last ditch attempt to outmanouvre his detractors by announcing last night that he would chair today’s meeting of the 14-member IPL Governing Council that was to decide his fate. The suspension having been communicated to him through e-mail ensured his absence.
The BCCI bosses then met at the Board’s headquarters here for 90 minutes after which they announced that Modi had been given 15 days time to respond to charges such as irregularities in the initial bids of Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab and rigging the bids of the two new franchises Kochi and Pune.
Other charges include irregularities in the broadcast deal, irregularities in the internet deal and his behaviorial pattern.
Modi, never short of sound bytes or tweets, remained mum and avoided the media. He was said to be planning his response.
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, BCCI President Shashank Manohar gave a clean chit to Union Minister Sharad Pawar, saying there is no involvement of any of his relatives either in the present or the initial bids.
He ruled out any political interference in the functioning of the BCCI saying as far he was concerned nobody can change his decisions.
At the meeting, a three-member committee of former players — Sunil Gavaskar, M A K Pataudi and Ravi Shastri — was appointed to discuss the modalities of withholding three foreign and four Indian players after discussing the issue with franchises.
Manohar said many important documents were missing from the IPL and BCCI offices.
“Many of the records are missing. The IT is asking for documents. We don’t have them. We have asked BCCI CAO Prof Ratnakar Shetty to look into the missing records and papers,” he said.
Asked about the charges levelled against Modi, Manohar said the charges basically relate to the initial bid of Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, allegations relating to broadcasting deal, bid rigging of two new franchises (Kochi and Pune), internet rights and behaviorial pattern.
Attacking Modi, he referred to the former IPL chairman’s statement that the entire world knew about the IPL affairs but said even the members of the Governing Council were not aware of the matters.
He cited the example of Rajasthan Royals franchise of the Jaipur IPL team in which shares of two persons are sold and transferred to certain individuals and certain companies.
“There is a company called Tresco and Blue Water… nobody knows what is Blue Water? And what is Tresco and all these things. I did not find in the shareholders register the name of Raj Kundra or Shilpa Shetty who claim to be the stakeholders,” Manohar said
As regards Kings XI Punjab, Manohar said the bids were given in the name of a company and was signed by Preity Zinta who did not hold a single share in that company when the bid was given.
He also referred to registration of a company in Britain four months after which its bid was accepted. The company Emerging Media is a co-owner of the Rajasthan Royals.
“We are asking Modi, how could he sign an agreement with A when the bid came from B. Modi made a statement that the entire world knows who the shareholders are but the fact is that not even the Governing Council members know about Rajasthan Royals. I did not find the names of Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra in the papers and they claim to be stakeholders,” he revealed.
For all the allegations against Modi, Manohar said if he manages to convince the Board of his innocence in his reply, the inquiry proceedings against him would be dropped.
“It is the duty of the Board to look into the allegations and to have an inquiry it is important to suspend the person concerned. It’s not punishment. The person has to be kept out of the Board’s functioning to ensure a free and fair inquiry.
“The Board would hold an inquiry and if Modi’s reply convinces the members, proceedings would be dropped,” he said.
Asked whether the Board was worried about Modi’s threats of exposing other BCCI office-bearers, Manohar said there was no concern.
“The BCCI is not worried. If there are other others guilty, we will sack them and take the same action,” he said.
On whether he would share the blame for the scandal, Manohar said the whole system worked on faith and he could not be held responsible for entrusting Modi with the job.