“So far IPL is concerned, we are looking into two angles. One is about tax evasion or avoidance angle and the other is the money-laundering aspect. Except these two areas, there is no other angle which the Finance ministry or the Income Tax department is looking into,” Mukherjee said.
“If there was tax evasion and avoidance, the Income Tax officials will look into it. These are the statutory responsibilities of the tax officials. They have been vested with this power and authority by the Act of Parliament and they don’t need any approval or concurrence from anybody,” he told a news channel.
“Regarding the management of the sporting event, its character and how it was conducted, these are not under the purview of the Income Tax department,” he said.
Asked about the alleged phone-tapping of Union Minister and former BCCI president Sharad Pawar, Mukherjee, who is also the Leader of the Lok Sabha, said: “I myself have not listened to any such tape, very honestly. That is not my job.”
Following revelations of share holding patterns of Kochi franchisee owners by now suspended IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, which led to the resignation of former junior foreign minister Shashi Tharoor, I-T officials surveyed the BCCI and IPL headquarters in Mumbai besides offices of other franchise owners throughout the country. Modi was later suspended by the Cricket Board after the IPL III final on April 26.
