Chennai: Madras high court has dismissed petition from former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president N. Srinivasan challenging action of Enforcement Directorate (ED) against the BCCI for the violating provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema) during the IPL - season 2 conducted in South Africa in 2009.
Dismissing the petition Justice T. Raja stated that the issue was already dealt by the Division Bench of Bombay high court and settled the issue and the petitioner cannot agitate it again before this court.
The ED initiated Fema proceedings against the BCCI in 2011 and issued notices to its then top officials, including Srinivasan and Prasanna Kannan, former IPL-CFO, for transferring of foreign exchange totaling US $ 4,98,62,799 to the Cricket South Africa without the permission of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Challenging the proceedings, Srinivasan and Prasanna moved the high court. On October 26, 2017, the ED made a submission to the court that it would not precipitate the matter till the next date of hearing.
ED alleged the petitioners misinterpreted the submission made by the ED on October 26, 2017, as interim order of the court and they refused to cooperate with the proceedings.
Meanwhile, on May 31, the ED slapped a penalty of over '121 crore on BCCI, Srinivasan, former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi and others for alleged Fema violation during the 2009 IPL. The ED claimed that the BCCI is liable to pay '82.66 crore, Srinivasan Rs 11.53 crore, Lalit Modi Rs 10.65 crore, former BCCI treasurer Pandove Rs 9.72 crore and the State Bank of Travancore (now merged with the SBI) Rs 7 crore.
