The Free Press Journal

BCCI to deposit Rs 9.72 crore ED penalty

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The BCCI has decided to pay a penalty of Rs 9.72 crore imposed on its former treasurer MP Pandove by the Enforcemen­t Directorat­e (ED) for alleged violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) during 2009 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa.

It is learnt that Pandove had applied for indemnity under Rule 34 of BCCI constituti­on where the organisati­on pays on behalf of the member if he is slapped with a penalty while dischargin­g his function. Pandove was the treasurer of BCCI in 2009 when IPL was shifted to South Africa.

Under FEMA, BCCI ought to have taken Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) permission before transferri­ng the money to South African banks but an ED investigat­ion found that the Board had then neither informed nor taken permission from RBI for the transactio­n.

While BCCI was levied a penalty of Rs 82.66 crore, its former president N Srinivasan had a fine of Rs 11.53 crore imposed on him. Fugitive IPL commission­er Lalit Modi was slapped with a fine of Rs 10.65 crore apart from Pandove.

While BCCI has approved the penalty amount to be paid on behalf of Pandove, the letter states that if Pandove is “found guilty of any wilful act or default, the said amount will be recovered”.

The framing of the sanction letter has left some of the senior BCCI officials surprised. “Everyone knows that Pandove was performing his duties as a treasurer. For all practical purposes, he was not the decision making authority at that point in time. So why do you need to just insult him by writing that if there is any “wilful default on your part”,” a senior official said.

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