IPL founder and former chairman Lalit Modi has said that he plans to return to India after 16 years after receiving major relief from the Appellate Tribunal in the 2009 Indian Premier League South Africa Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) case.
Modi, who has lived outside India since 2010, said the tribunal's verdict had brought an end to a legal battle that lasted 16 years. He said he hopes to return to India by the end of this year or early next year.
“I'm really happy with the verdict. Sixteen years I have fought and whatever I have been saying to the media and to everybody has finally emerged as the truth. I'm really happy that the tribunal has ruled in my favour. I was only concerned with the well-being of the IPL. Now that chapter is behind me, I’m going to move on in my life and I'm looking forward to coming back to India,” he said, adding that he expects to return after the birth of his grandson later this year.
“I will come back probably by the end of this year or early next year. My daughter is due with my grandson in October and hopefully everything will be well and I'll be back in India.”
The Appellate Tribunal under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act (SAFEMA) set aside most of the Enforcement Directorate's findings and penalties against Modi and other appellants in the principal proceedings related to the 2009 IPL season in South Africa.
The tribunal ruled that there was no material to establish that Modi was responsible for the alleged FEMA violations in the principal proceedings. The judgment was delivered on July 16.
The case dates back to 2009 when the IPL was shifted from India to South Africa because the tournament clashed with the general elections. The Enforcement Directorate had initiated proceedings over foreign exchange remittances made for staging the tournament abroad, alleging that prior approval from the Reserve Bank of India was required.
Welcoming the verdict, Modi said the tribunal had rejected the foundation of the Enforcement Directorate’s case against him. “The Tribunal has rejected the central premise on which the Enforcement Directorate's case against me had been built. It held that the principal foreign remittances relating to the staging of IPL 2009 in South Africa were current account transactions, not capital account transactions, thereby overturning the foundation of the earlier findings,” he said.
The ruling offers a significant relief for Modi, who was the architect of the IPL and served as its first chairman and commissioner. He left India in 2010 after facing multiple investigations by the Enforcement Directorate, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Income Tax Department.
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