IPL Scam or IPL Gate: Probe reveals sex angle in Indian Prostitution League?
Money Laundering, match fixing, betting, illegal gratification, bribery, fraud, forgery, it has it all. Then how can sex be far behind. According to a highly confidential income tax source, several high-class known (within Bollywood circles) call girls who call themselves actresses or models and C-grade actresses and models were allegedly hired or enlisted by a certain personality and his cronies – now under investigation by a myriad of agencies – within the IPL to provide sexual gratification to clients, sponsors, benefactors and patrons.
While we have the names of the so-called cheer-leaders or actresses who added the glamour component to the IPL parties, we will refrain from mentioning them and wait for the Income Tax department to spell it out. CNN IBN, Headlines Today and Times Now reported on Thursday that the IT department is investigating and looking into the monies paid to cheer leaders and others who added the glam component. The IT sleuths want to know who hired them, who paid them and how much was paid to them and for what kind of services.
According to Flynn Remedios, author of the yet-to-be published IPLgate – the mother of all Indian cricket scams, Apparently, it transpires that certain “cheer leaders” and glam dolls or sex dolls were paid far more than what any one would have paid a cheer leader. What the IT is now trying to find out is what other services were provided by the so-called cheer leaders and glam dolls for the exorbitant payments doled out to them by a very generous IPL. Or did the glam dolls substantially hike up the financial valuations of the IPL and its teams and how did they? Will somebody please tell the poor Indian cricket enthusiast?
IPL Scam: Lalit Modi accused of money laundering, match fixing and running a betting network
The Income Tax department has substantial evidence to prove that Lalit Modi is involved in money laundering, match fixing and abetting or running a betting network across the world according to various news reports in the media. A TV report says that a Delhi socialite Sameer runs a betting network on behalf of Lalit Modi who provides him with inside information on the status of the IPL matches. Whether all this evidence will stand up to the scrutiny of the courts is an altogether different story.
Meanwhile Lalit Modi has vehemently denied all these allegations. He said there was absolutely no betting in IPL matches. He also threatened to take any legal action against these reports. The source of these reports is a confidential dossier prepared by the Income Tax department about six months ago and now corroborated after additional information was obtained from the raids carried out on Lalit Modi’s offices including the BCCI and IPL head quarters.
Here are some links to articles and reports:
http://cricket.zeenews.com/fullstory.aspx?nid=29160
http://videos.oneindia.in/watch/24663/lalit-modi-involved-ipl-betting.html
IPL Scam: Broke, debt-ridden and almost-bankrupt Lalit Modi is now a billionnaire thanks to IPL gate
According to an income tax confidential report submitted to the finance minister on Wednesday, Lalit Modi who was till a few years ago, a business failure with a string of failed ventures, debt-ridden and almost bankrupt is now a billionnaire. His lifestyle includes a private jet, a private yatch, a fleet of Mercedes and BMW cars – not to forget dozens of lesser expensive ones – and more than two 7-star hotel suites that double up as his ‘simple accomodation’.
He is also alleged to have access to or operate several benami foreign bank accounts including some in tax havens like Mauritius and Switzerland through his proxies and associates.
Read what the Economic Times has to say on this subject:
‘Mr Lalit Modi has had a trail of failed ventures and defaults till four years back but has a lifestyle now that includes a private jet,
a luxury yacht and a fleet of Mercedes S class and BMW cars all acquired in the last three years.’
Thus opens a highly confidential and explosive report by the income-tax department that has been in the possession of the government for six months now but formed the basis of any action only on Thursday evening after a raging controversy over secret ownerships and sweetheart deals in the Indian Premier League, or IPL, stalled both houses of Parliament.
Highly-placed sources in the I-T department and the Congress party told ET that Mr Modi has been on the government radar for quite sometime. The alleged opaqueness with which he conducted the multi-billion dollar cricket tournament and the manner in which he took on home minister P Chidambaram in 2009 seem to have resulted in a detailed enquiry into his activities by the I-T department.
The report, whose contents were described to ET reporters, paints a startling picture of the alleged activities of the controversial IPL commissioner, ranging from his manipulation of land deals in Rajasthan and the existence of a maze of shell companies and offshore entities used to route payments and equity stakes worth hundreds of crores of rupees. The report also makes the startling allegation that Mr Modi—through his associates—was ‘involved’ in ‘betting’, while “insider information and outcome fixing of IPL matches were hinted at”. The six-month-old report, which I-T sleuths maintain is the basis of current investigations, is obviously referring to betting and insider information in the first two IPL tournaments, not the current one.
In preparing the report, investigators seem to have accessed his email account, confidential conversations on a UK-registered cell phone number and regulatory filings from across the globe, from Mauritius to Ireland to the US. Some other Indian cell phone numbers have also been unearthed which the I-T sleuths claim Mr Modi “keeps changing”. The report alleges that Mr Modi is “apparently deeply embroiled in both generation of black money, money laundering, betting in cricket (match fixing of certain IPL matches)”.
An email sent to Lalit Modi remained unanswered on Sunday evening. His lawyer was also sent the same email. A number of his associates named in the report might come under the scanner as the investigation, which started with visits to Mr Modi’s offices on Thursday evening, progresses through the coming weeks. Even though the report detailed the premises the tax department wanted to raid and sought permission to go ahead, political clearance was not granted until junior minister for external affairs Shashi Tharoor stepped into IPL’s murky quicksand and with him dragged the government and the Congress party into one of the biggest scandals in recent times.
“This is not just a Pandora’s box but a Pandora’s chest that has been opened,” said a senior Congress leader who has knowledge of the report. “This will indict everyone,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. When contacted about the contents of this report, the official spokesperson of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Shishir Jha, SMSed a terse ‘no comment’ to the ET reporter.
The report refers to one Deepa Raizada as a close associate of Mr Modi “who handles his cross-border transactions and offshore companies”. Ms Raizada is CEO of Modi Entertainment Networks and has worked at the firm for nearly 10 years, according to two persons who work at the company. The I-T report says she has previously worked with Equity Associates, a boutique investment firm based out of Ontario, Canada. Ms Raizada did not take calls made on her mobile number and did not respond to a text message from the ET reporter. Her home phone remained unreachable through Sunday and an email sent to an id listed under her name on the Modi Group’s website bounced.
A league of extraordinary betting?
What will come as most disturbing to cricket fans is that the report suggests pervasive betting and outcome fixing in the IPL. According to the report, Modi himself is involved through Samir Thukral, a Delhi-based “page 3 personality” with an “opulent lifestyle despite having no apparent source of income”.
Mr Thukral is a permanent fixture at all IPL matches with VIP access, the report says, adding that he “carries out the betting on behalf of Lalit Modi”. I-T sleuths are investigating “a lot of matches of IPL, especially involving the three teams in which Modi has an interest”. The mobile number listed in the report against Thukral actually belongs to Samir Thukral, a co-founder of Shree Capital Advisors, a Delhi-based private equity advisory firm.
His bio-data says he has interests in online lottery business and real estate. “I have known Lalit for 30 years and he is a good friend. And yes, of course, I went to South Africa for IPL matches, but these are wild and baseless allegations,” Mr Thukral told ET. On Sunday afternoon, Rahul Nayar, founder of Shree Capital Advisors, told ET that Mr Thukral doesn’t work for him anymore. He refused to answer other queries and hung up on ET reporters. Mr Thukral, however, maintained that he is the co-promoter of Shree Capital Advisors.
Ownership issues
The report alleges that Modi has silent ownership in three IPL teams—Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab. According to the report, Rajasthan Royals’ owner Emerging Media is controlled by Manoj Badale, Mumbai Education Trust and Ranjit Thakre, a former employee of ITC Ltd. It says a 25% stake in the team is with “hidden owner” Suresh Chellaram, a Nigeria-based co-brother-in-law of Mr Modi. Manoj Badale did not respond to an email seeking comment from ET.
Incidentally, Rajasthan Royals won the first IPL tournament in 2008. The report also says Kolkata Knight Rider’s co-owner Jay Mehta, who is married to actor Juhi Chawla, is “partly fronting” for Lalit Modi. Industrialist Jay Mehta denies these allegations. According to an official response from KKR, the team is wholly-owned by actor Shah Rukh Khan and Mr Mehta and there are no other shareholders. “Kolkata Knight Riders is owned by Mr Shah Rukh Khan and The Sea Islands Ltd (a company incorporated in Mauritius), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mehta International Ltd—the holding company of the Mehta Group. The shareholding pattern is as follows: Mr Shah Rukh Khan-55%; Sea Islands Ltd-45%. There are no other investors in Knight Riders Sports Private Limited,” said a spokesperson of KKR.
The report claims that Modi owns a stake in Kings XI Punjab through Akash Arora, owner of Delhi-based BPO Netlink Blue. Arora is a part-owner of the team along with Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman, according to the report. “Akash does not and has never owned a stake in our team,” said Mohit Burman. He, however, declined to categorically state that 100% of the team’s ownership rests solely with himself, Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia and Karan Paul.
Mohit’s younger brother, Gaurav Burman, who is married to Lalit Modi’s stepdaughter, told ET that he also owns a stake in the Mohali team. He volunteered this information while responding to allegations in the report that he is linked to Betfair, a UK firm that runs one of the world’s largest betting syndicates on the Internet. As readers of ET would know, betting is a legal activity in the UK. The report says that according to information contained in Modi’s email account, the IPL chairman is helping Betfair, which is seeking to enter the casino and hospitality business in India.
“Gaurav Burman is to receive equity on behalf of Lalit Modi,” the report says. “This is completely baseless, I have no links whatsoever with Betfair,” Gaurav Burman told ET. From Modi’s emails, the tax department also accessed details of a transaction relating to the purchase of a luxury yacht in Malta that is to be delivered in Mumbai or Dubai.
Conflicts of interest
WSG and IMG, two companies that received BCCI contracts, are both old business partners in Modi’s own businesses. Modi Entertainment Networks runs Fashion TV in India. IMG did business with Fashion TV for years before it won the contract for managing IPL. IMG, a powerful global firm with interests in sports, media and entertainment, was to get 10% of IPL’s revenues as management fee. In July 2008, following murmurs that this was too sweet a deal, BCCI terminated the contract.
The two parties later renegotiated and IMG was back in the game with a substantially reduced fee.According to the report, WSG, which owns IPL’s overseas rights, was owed $2.5 million by Modi Entertainment Network from an earlier transaction over which Modi had lost litigation both in India and the UK. The report alleges that by awarding WSG rights at favourable terms, Modi was settling the old dues from his private business. Netlink Blue, whose owner Akash Arora is a part-owner of Kings XI Punjab, according to the report, is another firm that has received favourable BCCI contracts.
“The close links of Modi with Netlink are established through a series of emails wherein Lalit has illegally given Netlink live feeds of Australia-India series before BCCI president intervened and stopped this illegal sale of rights,” the report says. Sure enough, the favour is not without a quid pro quo. “From Netlink, a part of payoff is by way of a commitment to bail out Mr Modi’s sick venture Voyages TV through cash injection of Rs 8 crore in the form of equity,” the report says, citing emails that were available to I-T sleuths.
IPL scam: Lalit Modi purchased a private Jet, yatch and several expensive cars with illegal funds
According to reports, Lalit Modi recently purchased a private jet, several expensive cars and a yatch with illegal, ill-gotten funds. The funds were routed through various sources abroad including from tax havens like Mauritius. Lalit Modi owns a Mercedes and a BMW, besides other expensive cars, according to income tax sources.
Meanwhile according to a report in the Times of India, IPL commissioner Lalit Modi’s role in connection with the purchase of heritage havelis in the protected Amer Palace zone has come under the scanner of the Rajasthan government.
The Rajasthan government is mulling action against both Modi and his wife Minal, who as directors of a company, were allegedly involved in the purchase of the heritage buildings or havelis..
An inquiry by the Jaipur divisional commissioner into the issue has confirmed that the protected havelis were purchased as private properties four years back. Amer Heritage City Construction Pvt Ltd, which later changed its name to Ananda Heritage Hotels, with Lalit Modi and his wife as directors, had purchased four government havelis. Bina Kak, state tourism minister said that she had got the inquiry report.
IPL Scam: Does Lalit Modi know about the IPL fake tickets, black marketing?
According to certain media reports, Lalit Modi and some of his cronies or others within the IPL core group may have inside knowledge about the black marketing of the IPL finals tickets. Tickets have also been duplicated, forged and faked on a large scale and fake tickets are being sold all over.
Are insiders within the IPL core team aware of these fake, forged and duplicated tickets. Why hasn’t the IPL management filed any police complaint against the forging of these tickets. Is it meant to hoodwink the tax man. Are some members printing the fake tickets themselves in collusion with some others? Only a detailed Crime Branch probe may reveal the truth. Or will it??
A report by Sanjay Jog in Business Standard says and we reproduce the entire report:
Troubles seem to be hitting the Indian Premier League (IPL) from all sides. Even as the investigating agencies look into the murky financial dealings in IPL, black marketers and touts are having a field day, selling tickets for the finals for Rs 3,000-Rs 2 lakh.
The black marketers have even started selling fake tickets in hotels, at railway stations and colonies near the stadium. The tickets for the finals, to be held on April 25 at the D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, are officially priced at Rs 500, Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000.
Sources told Business Standard the black market was flourishing: “There has been a mad rush. A ticket of Rs 500 is now being sold at Rs 3,000-7,000. Similarly, a Rs 5,000 ticket is going for Rs 45,000-70,000 and Rs 10,000 tickets are being sold for as much as Rs 80,000-2 lakh.”
Even the complimentary tickets are being sold at as much as Rs 60,000-1.50 lakh. Police sources admitted they had received complaints about black marketing of tickets. However, no official complaint had so far been lodged.
Police sources also admitted, given that the priority was to ensure there was no untoward incident in the finals, they had not been able to pay much attention to the complaints. “The police is currently concentrating on the law-and-order situation,” admitted a source.
The situation has become so difficult that even politicians are unable to get tickets. A Congress legislator, who was willing to pay up to Rs 10 lakh for a few tickets, was not been able to get any. The legislator, on condition of anonymity, said: “The state government should step in to stop this illegal sale. Ideally, the sale of tickets would have been divided into online and over the counter in a 50:50 ratio. Genuine cricket lovers are simply barred from enjoying the game at the stadium.”
An Opposition legislator, who landed up with a fake ticket for the semi-finals between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, said: “I paid Rs 20,000 for a Rs 10,000 ticket. But, when I reached the stadium, I was told the ticket was fake. I could not do much, as it would have only landed me in trouble.”
IPL Gate: Poorrna Patel, Praful Patel accessed insider information
By Flynn Remedios – futuristicmedianetwork.wordpress.com / iplgate.wordpress.com
NCP politician and aviation minister Praful Patel’s daughter in charge of hospitality at the IPL was sent a confidential email from Lalit Modi’s office which was later on passed on to Shashi Tharoor. According to TV reports, Poorna Patel who was in charge of hospitality had no business to posses or receive that email. While Praful Patel has vehemently denied that the email was confidential and claims that the email was routine and ‘in public domain’, it is very obvious, say reports that the email was sent to apparently mislead Tharoor and his coterie.
Poorna Patel was as her father claimed a very junior employee at the IPL and was working for pocket money. The question is why was a junior employee was sent a valuation document received directly from the IPL Commissioner’s office. IPL CEO Sundar Raman is alleged to have sent the email on instructions from Lalit Modi to Praful Patel’s daughter Poorna Patel. He later in the day asserted that he had no idea why Poorna Patel forwarded that email to her father’s office which in turn was forwarded to Shashi Tharoor.
What the IPL CEO forgot to answer was why in the first place did he as CEO send a financial document to a junior employee in the hospitality department.
IPL Gate: Lalit Modi meets Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, asks for support
By Flynn Remedios – futuristicmedianetwork.wordpress.com / iplgate.wordpress.com
IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi met Reliance Industries chairman and Mumbai Indians owner Mukesh Ambani today (22 April, 2010) and according to TV news reports sought his support and help. Mukesh Ambani is known to be close to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other senior Congress politicians, including the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The meeting took place in the backdrop of the first IPL-3 semi-final, against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, at the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. The Mumbai Indians won by 35 runs and will meet the winner of Thursday’s semi-final between the Deccan Chargers and the Chennai Super Kings in the final on Sunday.
IPL Gate: BCCI will not attend IPL awards night: BCCI and Shashank Modi take on Lalit Modi
By Flynn Remedios – futuristicmedianetwork.wordpress.com/ipgate.wordpress.com
News reports have suggested that senior BCCI officials including BCCI President Shashank Manohar may not attend the IPL Awards Night next week. This decision by the BCCI has also been communicated to other franchises, news reports have suggested.
Meanwhile Shashank Manohar claimed in a TV interview that there were documents including confidential and crucial bid papers which even senior BCCI officials have not seen or are not aware of.
Meanwhile BCCI governing council member Mansur Ali Khan alias Tiger Pataudi has claimed in a TV interview that in introspection the entire governing body of the BCCI must take responsibility for the IPLgate and step down.
IPLgate: IPL officials destroying data on laptops, servers.
By Neelakshi Singh – Futuristic Media Network
IPL officials, secretaries, managers and others are on “Operation Clean-up”, say sources. But they are not cleaning the cricket body of the scamsters and wheeler-dealers. Instead, they are destroying crucial evidence, lest it should fall into the hands of the authorities.
According to Flynn Remedios, author of IPLgate – the mother of all cricket scams (iplgate.wordpress.com and ghotala.wordpress.com), secretaries, managers and officials have begun deleting emails and clearing the trash cans on their laptops, desktops and even computers at home. IT (Information Technology) engineers have been told to clear the cache and trash on servers, lest it lands in the hands of the government, says Flynn Remedios. This follows the leaking of crucial emails to the media including an email sent from NCP politician, bigwig and industrialist Praful Patel’s secretary to former MOS Shashi Tharoor.
The email sent by Praful Patel’s secretary Champa Bharatwaj is a spread sheet document according to TV reports. Praful Patel obtained the mail via his daughter who works for Lalit Modi at the IPL office. Apparently Patel asked Modi to forward him the email which was then forwarded by his secretary to Shashi Tharoor. Vijay Mallaya relative also works for Lalit Modi at the IPL office, reports have claimed.
Meanwhile IPL governing council member Mansur Ali Khan “Tiger” Patudi has demanded that that Lalit Modi must step down. This follows a news report by CNN IBN that Lalit Modi may move the Bombay High Court praying for a stay on the meeting called by the BCCI on the 26th April 2010.
The scandal broke loose when Lalit Modi tweeted on Twitter releasing the shareholding pattern of the Kochi franchisee in which Shashi Tharoor’s special lady friend Sunanda Pushkar had a stake of Rs 70 crore. Praful Patel today confirmed that he had helped Shashi Tharoor with the valuation of the Kochi cricket team. But an NCP spokesperson said that Patel did not wrong and the documents were all in public domain.
The question remains that if the documents were in public domain, why did a MOS like Shashi Tharoor require Praful Patel to send it to him. He could have asked Lalit Modi for the documents directly. The documents were sent to Tharoor two days prior to the Kochi bid.
IPL Gate 