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Sixteen years after IPL 2009 ED case, Lalit Modi claims biggest legal win as tribunal overturns key findings originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Lalit Modi says the SAFEMA Appellate Tribunal has set aside penalties imposed on him.
- The case related to the hosting of IPL 2009 in South Africa 16 years ago.
- Modi claims the tribunal found he was not responsible for the BCCI's FEMA compliance.
Sixteen years after IPL 2009 ED case, Lalit Modi claims biggest legal win
Few figures in Indian cricket carry a more complicated legacy than Lalit Modi. The man who built the IPL into a global property was ousted from the BCCI in 2010 and has spent the years since in London fighting a series of legal battles stemming from his time in charge.
The most significant of those cases concerned the 2009 season, which was moved to South Africa at short notice because India's general elections made hosting it at home impossible. The Enforcement Directorate subsequently pursued Modi over alleged foreign exchange violations.
On Tuesday, Modi issued a statement from London claiming a decisive victory. He said the appellate tribunal under SAFEMA has delivered its judgement and set aside the penalties imposed on him in the principal proceedings relating to that tournament.
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What Modi says the tribunal found
According to his statement, the ruling dismantles the foundation of the case built against him. Modi said the tribunal rejected the central premise on which the Enforcement Directorate had constructed its argument. "The Tribunal has rejected the central premise on which the Enforcement Directorate's case against me had been built," Modi said.
"It held that the principal foreign remittances relating to the staging of IPL 2009 in South Africa were current account transactions, not capital account transactions, thereby overturning the foundation of the earlier findings." He also claimed the tribunal absolved him of responsibility for the board's regulatory obligations.
"The Tribunal also found that I was neither responsible for BCCI's statutory FEMA compliance nor vested with the financial authority alleged by the Enforcement Directorate, and it has set aside the penalties imposed on me in the principal proceedings," his statement read. Modi framed the decision as the end of the defining legal chapter of his life.
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"For over sixteen years I have consistently maintained one simple position: I acted in good faith, in the best interests of Indian cricket and the IPL, and committed no personal wrongdoing," he said.
He also defended the decision that triggered the entire affair. "The successful staging of that season ensured that the IPL survived and ultimately became one of the world's most valuable sporting properties," Modi said, before adding that he had always believed time is the greatest judge.
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Vindication on one count, not on everything
The ruling, as described, is genuinely significant. If the tribunal has accepted that the remittances were current account transactions and that Modi held no compliance responsibility, then the technical basis of the ED's principal case has collapsed. Two caveats matter, though.
Modi's statement refers specifically to the principal FEMA proceedings, which are narrower than a blanket clearance, and the Enforcement Directorate retains the option to challenge the order in court.
The wider reputational question also remains unresolved. Modi was expelled from the BCCI for life in 2013 over separate allegations of misconduct, and he surrendered his Indian citizenship last year, so a favourable tribunal ruling does not by itself reopen a path back into Indian cricket.
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