Published>Tue, May 25 10 10:23 PM
New Delhi, May 25 (IANS) Lalit Modi, the suspended chairman of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Tuesday came up with startling discolsures of serious misuse of power by Indian cricket board president Shashank Manohar and secretary N. Srinivasan, pointing out their culpability in a number of decisions, which he alleged were illegal and fradulent.
Modi asked Manohar and Srinivasan to recuse themselves from all proceeding regarding showcause notice to him and to constitute an independent panel to adjudicate as they are party to all the decisions as IPL Governing Council members.
As IANS reported May 14, Modi had prepared a long charge-sheet against Manohar and Srinivasan along with his reply to the showcause notice slapped on him on April 26.
After waiting for ten days for the chief of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take a view on it, Modi sent out his 14-page charge-sheet against the two top officials to all GC members.
Modi in his letter pointed out how Manohar was solely invovled in some charges levelled against himself in the BCCI notice. He pointed out that the controversial decision to scrap the initial opening of tenders was taken by Manohar and it was he who went out of his way to entertain former minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor and accept the Kochi bid much after the lapse of deadline.
Modi's charges against Srinivasan were much more serious. He accused the BCCI secretary of manipulating the minutes of the board meetings, players' auction for the third edition and the appointment of umpires in the second IPL in South Africa to help his team, Chennai Super Kings, misusing his office as the board secretary.
Modi revealed another startling fact, which was part of former BCCI president A.C. Muthaiah's contention before a court: That the BCCI's constitution to allow Srinivasan to own an IPL team was never amended, and that he has submitted a false affidavit in the court to justify his dual status, with the connivance of Manohar and IPL vice-chairman Niranjan Shah.
'Muthiah has raised the issue relating to conflict of interest. It is unfortunate that to protect the position of Mr. Srinivasan, false statements have been made in pleadings filed in court.'
'No such amendment was ever made and the secretary has filed false affidavits in the Hon'ble High Court to support his own case. In the proceedings filed by Mr. Muthiah, it has been stated by the Honorary Secretary on oath that the Regulation 6.2.4 was amended after an action taken report was filed by the two-member committee consisting of Mr. Shashank Manohar and Mr. Niranjan Shah recommending amendment,' Modi said.
'I state that no such committee was ever appointed, no recommendation was ever made, no special general body meeting approving such report and such amendment ever took place, and hence Mr. Shashank Manohar (the present president), Mr. Niranjan Shah, the Vice Chairman IPL and Mr. N.Srinavasan have connived and played not only on the members of the board but also on the Hon'ble Court,' Modi claimed.
'I further state that the minutes of the Annual General Body Meeting dated 28th September, 2008, were written up by the honorary secretary in a manner to reflect a position which is simply not true, when the same were presented for approval in the A.G.M in September, 2009.'
'These documents were created or fabricated only post a notice was issued by Mr. A.C Mutthaiah to the honorary president, asking the president to look into this matter and issue a show cause notice to Mr. N Srinivasan for violating the regulation 6.2.4 of the Regulations.
'Since I have been opposed to this manner of functioning from the very inception, it is obvious that to protect his position, the Hon secretary has good reason not just to defame me but also to find me guilty of these imaginary wrong doings alleged in the show cause notice.'
Modi cited innumerable cases of Srinivasan's conflict of interest and also charged him with causing the board a loss of $60 million by allowing Zee to withdraw its tender deposit.
Modi reminded Manohar that all GC decisions were gone twice over by him as GC member as well as board president and they have all been ratified by both the bodies.
As for tender bids, Modi stated that GC and approved them after consultations among the members, including that of M/s Emerging Media and so Manohar would be a potential witness in any legal proceedings. All aspects about Emerging Media were well known to not only Manohar but also the entire GC, including that the franchisee would be an Indian company of 100 per cent subsidairy of Mauritius holding company.
Modi also countered the charge that Manoj Badale is not part of the Jaipur franchisee, saying the board chief was very much aware of his credentials as a leading businessman and that he has no direct or indirect interest in the Jaipur franchise.
As for the allegation that he failed to disclose that his co-brother Suresh Chellaram was bidding for Rajasthan, Modi clarified that he has no direct or indirect interest in the franchise.
'Mr. Suresh Chellaram is an independent business man and man of extensive financial resources. It is further submitted that he is my co-brother is known to all, including you from many years.'
Modi refuted the allegation that he tried rigging the bids in favour of two business houses for the two new teams added for the fourth edition of the IPL.
He pointed out that the bids were processed and vetted by the board's corporate lawyers and counsel Ms Akhila Kaushik, who 'also happens to be an ex-junior of your father V.R. Manohar.'
The suspended IPL chairman also reminded Manohar that he was party to the decision that the net worth of the bidder should be $ 1 billion and that he discussed the issue of deposit also with him at the GC meeting on March 7 and got his approval.
Modi said the decision to cancel the March 6 tenders was taken by Manohar 'without any consultation with the GC members' and went into a lengthy explanation on how the board chief interfered with the process.
He said, in fact, it was Manohar who pitched in for Tharoor to include the bid of Rendezvous after the deadline had lapsed.
'You wanted me to wait till the Kochi bid came from Delhi,' Modi said, adding that the board chief spoke to Tharoor and his secretary several times after he refused to entertain the minister's request for extension of deadline.
Atttacking Srinivasan for manipulating the auction of players for the third edition, Modi said the secretary used his power to alter the auction rules specifically for himself to ensure the Chennai Super Kings could retain their full purse of $2 million -- although the purse available to him was only $1.85 million as circulated prior to the auction.
'Despite my opposition he used his clout as secretary to pressure the management to accept back-dated player contracts and cancel the contracts of one of his players so that he could have his full purse and thereby have a advantage in the bidding process.'
Modi alleged that Srinivasan made every effort to stop West Indies all-rounder Keiron Pollard from playing for Mumbai Indians by raising frivolous issues with the West Indies Board because his Chennai Super Kings were also interested in the player.
'Here again the actions of the Hon. secretary were a brazen act of abuse of power.'
Indo-Asian News Service
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