Rhys Blakely
Lalit Modi has warned his many enemies inside India’s corridors of cricketing power that he will not go quietly after being stripped of his crown as king of the sport’s wealthiest tournament.
The confetti had not settled on Sunday’s night’s final when the creator and chief administrator of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was suspended pending a corruption inquiry by his paymaster, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The move in effect ended Modi’s three-year reign over a competition that transformed the commercial face of cricket. He reacted in typically combative style.
“The BCCI is scared of the truth,” he said.
The BCCI, which owns the IPL, was forced to act in the face of increasingly serious allegations.
The Indian media has portrayed the Twenty20 league as a hive of match-fixing, illegal betting, political corruption, money laundering and multimillion-dollar kickbacks. At the centre of the scandal, Mr Modi is widely thought to have run the show as a personal fiefdom.
At a packed press conference in Mumbai today Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, provided some clarity on the “alleged acts of individual misdemeanours” that Mr Modi must answer to within 15 days.
They include allegations of irregularities in the ownership of two IPL teams: the Rajasthan Royals, who are part owned by Shilpa Shetty, the actress, and the King’s XI Punjab, which is part-owned by the Bollywood star Preity Zinta.
The London-based Emerging Media, one of the owners of the Rajasthan Royals, is among a number of companies that will be investigated, Mr Manohar added – presumably for any evidence for improper links to Mr Modi.
Mr Modi’s alleged role in organising a kickback on a $1.6 billion (£1 billion) broadcast deal will also be investigated.
“The broadcast contract is not with us,” Mr Manohar said yesterday – a potentially explosive admission given the document’s importance.
Mr Modi also has to explain to the BCCI allegations that he tried to manipulate the auction of IPL franchises through the disclosure of confidential information.
Mr Modi, who also faces an investigation by India’s tax authorities, has claimed that the IPL is “clean and transparent” and has denied any wrongdoing.
Since his suspension he has indicated that he will fight the allegations vigorously.
“The BCCI is scared of the truth. Nothing wrong has been done,’’ he said. “Every decision was endorsed by the governing council.”
The mention of the IPL Governing Council is, by itself, enough to raise eyebrows. The body – much like the broader IPL structure – is peppered with conflicts of interest. It includes N Srinivasan, whose company India Cements owns the Chennai Super Kings, this year’s IPL champions.
M.A.K Pataudi, the former Indian cricket captain, is also a member – despite his son, the Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan, being the face of a failed bid for a new IPL franchise last month.
The council also includes the former on-field stars Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar – who have BCCI commentary contracts said to be worth $1 million a year each.
Mr Manohar today sought to defend the role of the governing council and the BCCI.
“Most of the contracts are entered into without the consent of the governing council,” he said. “They are brought before the governing council after the contracts are signed.
“So, the governing council has no other option and is presented with a fait accompli.”
Chirayu Amin, a vice-president of the BCCI and another member of the IPL governing council, would become the interim IPL chief, he added.
Over the weekend the BCCI worked night and day to persuade Modi to resign – an outcome that would have drawn a partial line under the saga.
Having failed, the BCCI now has to justify sacking Mr Modi and give him a chance to defend himself.
The question now is whether the IPL itself is too big to fail. Most pundits believe it will endure, having achieved critical financial mass under Modi.
Team owners of the stature of Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, whose Mumbai Indians were this year’s runners-up, give the tournament a certain amount of ballast – both commercially and politically. Given the extraordinary events of the past fortnight, however, few onlookers would rule out the possibility of another bombshell – possibly even one big enough to finish off the competition.
The current controversy was triggered when Shashi Tharoor, a high-profile government minister, resigned over allegations that his girlfriend was given a free stake worth £10 million in a new IPL team.
It was, of course, Mr Modi who leaked the ownership details on Twitter.
This afternoon, he re-emerged on the microblogging website. “Had a restful day. Been in the spa all day. Much needed rest,” he said.
“Thank you all for your messages of support. It is really appreciated.
I am still chairman of IPL. Just suspended. Wait – we have just begun”.
Times Online
