New Delhi, Aug 30: The Enforcement Directorate is looking into complaints of criminal activities like money laundering against Indian Premier League (IPL), Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said today.
“There are certain irregularities which are being looked into, particularly, relating to some complaints received that there are investments, so far as IPL is concerned, from outside.
“Those are being looked into by the Enforcement Directorate because those are the criminal activities like money laundering,” Mukherjee said in the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour.
IPL, organiser of the popular Twenty20 cricket format, is a body of the cricket board, BCCI. Till 2006, the BCCI enjoyed income tax exemptions, the Finance Minister said. Answering supplementaries, he said the concerned agencies are looking into the “criminal activities and other areas” under relevant laws.
He said the cricket board itself has taken certain action against IPL. Since the BCCI was earlier exempted from income tax, “there was no question for them to show low income,” Mukherjee said, adding the authorities have raised the tax demand after the BCCI lost registration under the Madras Registrations Act.
This registration was lost in 2006 following verdict of the Allahabad High Court. Since then, BCCI is subject to tax. Tax demands were raised for the assessment years 2007-08 and 2008-09 amounting to Rs 118 crore and Rs 257 crore respectively. As much as Rs 249 crore has already been recovered from BCCI, Mukherjee said.
The gross receipts disclosed by BCCI in its tax returns for the assessment years 2007-08 to 2010-11 are Rs 651.82 crore, Rs 1,000.40 crore, Rs 1,387.62 crore and Rs 1,666.84 crore, respectively, Mukherjee said.
Through a supplementary, Vijay Darda (Cong) said questions have been raised about activities of BCCI and IPL. “This organisation (BCCI-IPL) has remained under suspicion. Money invested in IPL has been collected through illegal means...,” he pointed out.
Mahendra Mohan (SP) asked as to why inquiry has not been conducted into commercial activities of IPL. He said “a lot of money has been invested in IPL through Mauritius route.”
Mohan said all the IPL franchisees are showing losses after “earning” so much. PTI
