BCCI heads questioned by parliamentary committee

An Indian parliamentary committee has questioned the heads of the BCCI and the IPL over alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in the course of running the popular Twenty20 league. Board president Shashank Manohar, secretary and president-elect N Srinivasan, and IPL Chairman Chirayu Amin appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, headed by Bhartiya Janata Party leader, Yashwant Sinha, on Wednesday.

According to PTI, the committee asked the officials about the funding patterns of the IPL, the method of payment of players' salaries, and whether they were aware that investments in the league made by a number of the franchises had been routed through companies located in places such as Mauritius, the Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands. It also wanted to know why the BCCI had not taken the requisite permissions from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to conduct foreign exchange transactions.

"Do you agree that large scale FEMA violations have been committed by the IPL Franchisees and their associates?" PTI quoted a committee member as asking. "If so what are the reasons thereof? What is the approach of the BCCI in this issue?"

Another line of questioning focused on the 2009 IPL, which was moved to South Africa at the last minute over security concerns arising out of the tournament overlapping with the Indian general elections. According to the committee, opening and operating a current account in South Africa through an explicit arrangement with Cricket South Africa could be construed as violation of FEMA, as the BCCI had failed to ask the RBI for permission to do so.

Sinha has raised questions about the tournament's funding in the past.