JOIN US“As far as Rajasthan Royals are concerned, there was a company called Emerging Media IPL based in UK and owned by a single individual, Manoj Badale.
The company was started four months earlier to the (first) bid. His bid was accepted. However, the agreement is signed with Jaipur IPL. There is an interesting fact to be noted — this is a company wherein there were only two stakeholders at the time the agreement was signed.
Shareholder details
“The two stakeholders were Mr (Fraser) Castelinho and Bal Thakur. Now, the bid is given by A, the document signed by B, who had nothing to do with the bid. Then, separate companies have come in which have registered in Mauritius.”
“Modi made a statement that the entire world knows (who the stakeholders) in the franchises are. But even members of the Governing Council were not aware. As I said, in the Rajasthan Royal franchise, the Jaipur IPL is the main company. Their shares are then sold and transferred to certain individuals and companies like Tresco and Blue Waters. Nobody knows what is Blue Waters and what is Tresco. I did not find in the share-holders’ register the names of Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty, who claim to be the stakeholders.”
He continued, “there is a clause in the agreement which is entered into with all the franchises that in case you transfer your shares, the transfer has to be made with the permission of the IPL and the Board is entitled to have five per cent of the amount of the transaction as their fees.
“Nothing of this sort has happened. What we are asking is if A gives the bid, how do you sign the agreement with B? How do all these people get into this? None of us is aware and we don’t know who these companies are.”
The Kings XI scenario, Manohar pointed out, was equally curious.
“When the bids were given, it was signed only by Preity Zinta. She said she will form a consortium with three people — Mohit Burman, Mr Paul and one more person. When the franchise agreement was signed by her, she did not have a single share in that company.
“The shares were transferred to her after signing of the agreement. Then Mr Gaurav Burman gets in and the rest. Again, the same logic applies — you need to have the consent of the IPL and pay the fee. But once again, nothing happened.”
DH News Service