ED issues notice to Lalit Modi under Money Laundering Act

The Enforcement Directorate on Monday issued summons to former IPL chairman Lalit Modi in a money-laundering case. ED has asked Modi to appear in person and join the investigation in three weeks.

ED is in the process of serving final penalty notices in 16 alleged forex violation cases amounting to an estimated Rs 1,700 crore against former IPL chairman Lalit Modi and others as part of its wide-ranging probe in the alleged financial irregularities in various editions of the T-20 cricket extravaganza.

The agency, in February, had slapped a similar Rs 425 crore show-cause notice against Modi, former BCCI boss Srinivasan, the IPL, private multimedia firms for alleged contravention of forex laws in awarding a cricketing media rights contract in 2009.

The sources added that the money laundering case, registered in 2015, has been filed by the agency based on an FIR filed by Srinivasan with Chennai police for suspected bungling of funds in awarding media rights for broadcasting BCCI-IPL cricket matches.

The agency sources said all the cases being probed against Modi and his associates in IPL-BCCI are related to various editions of the glamorous T-20 matches which were held in the country and specifically the second edition of the tournament which was held in South Africa in 2009.

Over the years, Modi and his team of lawyers have denied any wrongdoing in these instances.