Franchisees come under I-T scanner

A team of the Department visited the IPL headquarters located in the BCCI building at the Cricket CI and sought financial details and share holding patterns of all the IPL franchisees.

The team’s visit was part of a “source probe” that has been initiated by the Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance to look into the financing aspects of the multi-crore IPL in the light of the raging controversy over the funding of IPL Kochi, the new franchisee, said official sources.

However, besides the shareholdings, the Income Tax team was also looking into non-payment of advance tax and the tax deducted at source as well as an old vigilance complaint, sources said.

“Sorry, no comments,” was the only reply that was given by the IT sleuths when accosted by a large posse of mediapersons outside the IPL office.

The visit was downplayed by the IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, who said it was only an inquiry and not a raid.The I-T department has created a special cell in Mumbai to keep a tab on all income generated by the IPL, the sources said.

Flow of funds
It said the probe has been initiated to find out if there is any illegal flow of funds or whether any black money is being pumped into the sporting extravaganza including from foreign shores.

The probe move came even as the CPM said the government should inquire into the source of certain funds flowing into the tournament and reconsider whether any tax exemptions or concessions are justified for this commercial enterprise.
Modi himself said on Wednesday that he would disclose details of shareholding of all IPL franchisees after he came under fire for revealing the ownership details of the IPL Kochi team.