Published>Mon, Sep 13 10 10:23 PM
The Bombay High Court will continue tomorrow its hearing on the petition filed by suspended IPL chief Lalit Modi seeking reconstitution of BCCI disciplinary committee which is probing allegations of his financial wrongdoings in the conduct of the Twenty20 League.
A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Dhananjay Chandrachud heard the matter today before posting for further hearing tomorrow.
Modi's lawyer Ram Jethmalani said one of the main charges against his client was that the facilitation fee, which MSM Satellite (Sony) paid to World Sports Group (Mauritius) for IPL media rights before 2010 season, was in fact a "kickback".
Jethmalani argued that his client actually enriched the coffers of the Cricket Board when he struck the new deals for media rights.
This deal was justified, because WSG (M) was holding the media rights, Jethmalani said.
In a 2008 deal, Sony had agreed to pay USD 916 million to BCCI, but in the new contract it agreed to pay USD 1.96 billion to the cricket body, he said.
"I (Modi) increased their coffers by more than double," the senior advocate said.
He further said BCCI President Shashank Manohar did an "admirable thing" by pulling out of the disciplinary committee, and existing two members, Arun Jaitley and Chirayu Amin (interim IPL Chairman) "should follow his lead".
"These two gentlemen were part of the general body which decided that USD 80 million which Sony paid to WSG was really a kickback" and hence they must not be a part of the disciplinary panel," Jethmalani submitted.
Modi had filed a petition on the same grounds in July, but then another bench of the High Court had said he should raise the issue before the BCCI disciplinary committee itself, and if it decided against him, he may move the court.
On August 11, the disciplinary committee held that the two members -- Amin and Jaitley -- need not pull out of the panel.
Source: Web Search
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