Modi reveals plans for breakaway governing body
SYDNEY: Former cricket boss Lalit Modi admitted yesterday his involvement in a plot to overthrow the sport’s establishment, aiming to create a new world governing body affiliated with the Olympic movement.
The ex-Indian Premier League chairman, who is wanted by police over allegations of money laundering linked to a lucrative television deal, said a detailed plan had been years in the making.
“We’re talking about another cricketing system. There is a blueprint out there, it’s got my rubber stamp on it,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in an interview.
“I have been involved in it. I say it for the first time, I’ve been involved in putting that (blue) print together.”
In the past, while acknowledging involvement in discussions to set up a new governing body, Modi had insisted he had walked away from the project.
“The plan that I have put together is a very detailed plan, it’s not a plan that’s come off the cuff, it’s been taking years and years and years in the making,” he said.
Modi, who lives in London after f leeing India in 2010 when tax and financial crime authorities raided his premises, has long been critical of the International Cricket Council’s governance structure and financial model.
He has voiced concern at the control exercised by India, England and Australia over the way world cricket is run and said he believed he could spearhead an alternative.
“We could take on the existing establishment, no problem,” he said.
“It requires a few billion dollars, I don’t think it would be a problem to get that... into action.” — AFP