Madras High Court: Former BCCI chief Srinivasan’s plea to quash ED order on FEMA violation rejected

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has rejected a plea from N Srinivasan of India Cements and former chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to quash the orders of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against the BCCI for alleged violation of the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) during the IPL season 2 conducted in South Africa in 2009.Justice T Raja, who passed the order on Monday, paved the way for the ED to continue with its proceedings.

The issue was already dealt with by a division bench of the Bombay High Court and settled and hence, the petitioner cannot raise the issue again, the judge said on Monday.The ED initiated Foreign Exchange Management Act  proceedings against the BCCI in 2011 and issued notices to its then top officials, including Srinivasan and Prasanna Kumar, with regard to transfer of foreign exchange totalling US $ 4.98 crore to the Cricket South Africa without the permission of the Reserve Bank of India.

Assailing the proceedings, Srinivasan and Prasanna Kumar moved the High Court.
However, on May 31, concluding its inquiry, the ED slapped a penalty of over `121 crore on Srinivasan, former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi and others for alleged Foreign Exchange Management Act  violation during the 2009 IPL. As per the May 31 order of the Enforcement Directorate, the BCCI is liable to pay `82.66 crore, Srinivasan `11.53 crore, Lalit Modi `10.65 crore, former Board of Control for Cricket in India treasurer Pandove `9.72 crore and the State Bank of Travancore (now merged with the SBI) `7 crore.