The Income Tax (Investigation) Department is on an overdrive to get into the nitty-gritty of the financial matters related to the Indian Premier League and has asked the Board of Control for Cricket in India to produce a long list of documents on Friday, April 30.
The I-T department has sought the IPL books of accounts since inception in digital format. It has also asked the BCCI to provide details of the global theatrical and public viewing rights the IPL signed with the Dubai-based Entertainment & Sports Direct (ESD). Last November, the IPL announced that it entered into a 10-year contract with ESD for $ 74 million (Rs. 330 crore). The second bidder was Triplecom Media.
ESD was given the global rights to exhibit the IPL III matches at cinema halls, stadia, armed service establishments, hospitals, bars, hotels, restaurants, airports, railway stations, shopping malls, offices, construction sites, oil rigs, clubs, auditoriums, spas, salons, and on water-borne vessels, buses, trains.
Another set of documents the IT department wants to look at is the shareholding arrangement of the eight franchises at the time of signing the franchisee agreement (in 2008) and in fiscal 2008 and 2009 and up to date and also the receipt acknowledging the ‘unopened' Invitation To Tender (ITT) on March 7 was returned to the Videocon Digital and the Adani Enterprises.
At the IPL Governing Council (GC) meeting here on March 7, BCCI president Shashank Manohar instructed Lalit Modi not to open the bid documents arguing that neither he, the Secretary nor the GC was privy to the stiff conditions (like the potential franchisee to demonstrate a net worth of $1 billion, to pay an advance of $100 million with the tender bid and submit a rolling bank guarantee for the sum of the winning bid) incorporated in the ITT.
Furthermore, the BCCI has been asked to submit the bid documents of the Adani Enterprises, the Videocon Digital and Pune-based consortium Amman Vohra whose bids were lower than that of the Sahara Group (Pune) and the Rendezvous Sports World (Kochi) when the bids were opened in Chennai on March 21. The Sahara Group was the highest bidder at $ 370 million and RSW at $ 333.33 million.
The I-T has also asked the Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate (FIRC) details and money received from overseas in the last three years from all parties, if any. The department has specifically asked for the FIRC details from Emerging Media when it successfully bid in 2008 and also the performance deposit. Subsequently at the time of signing the franchise contract Emerging Media became Jaipur Franchise Pvt. Ltd.
After receiving I-T summons on April 16, the BCCI had submitted some documents on April 23, but Mr. Manohar said at a press conference on Monday, the BCCI was not in possession of all the documents. Now the I-T department has also asked the BCCI to submit ledger accounts detailing income and expenditure (in excess of Rs. 50 lakh) with copies of the IPL-related agreements, amount paid to the eight franchises as their share from the Central Revenue Pool (money received from SONY/Multi Screen Media, DLF, Hero Honda, Citi, Vodafone, Kingfisher). This season the IPL signed CRP contracts with Karbonn Mobiles, MAXX Mobiles and Global Cricket Ventures.
The department has also asked for the IPL's audited statement for the first two seasons held in India and South Africa, the BCCI's income and expenditure account and balance sheet for the last three years and TDS details.
