ED issues summons to Lalit Modi, asks him to join probe in three weeks

Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday issued summons to former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi in money laundering case, according to media reports.

New Delhi: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday issued summons to former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi in money laundering case.

"Summons were issued last week to Modi through his attorney, who appeared before us for an adjudicatory hearing," an ED source said. According to the source, Modi has been asked to appear in three weeks.

Modi has been asked by ED to explain the charges against him.

Last week, the agency had recorded the statement of former BCCI chief N Shrinivasan. The case relates to a 2008 deal between World Sports Group (WSG) and Multi Screen Media (MSM) for television rights of Indian Premier League (IPL) worth Rs 425 crore.

Earlier, the ED was in the process of serving final penalty notices in 16 alleged forex violation cases amounting to an estimated Rs 1,700 crore against former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi and others as part of its wide-ranging probe in the alleged financial irregularities in various editions of the T-20 cricket extravaganza.

High-level Enforcement Directorate sources had said apart from these cases, two other instances of suspected contravention of foreign exchange laws and hawala transactions are also being investigated by the central probe agency and these include investigations on the role of Modi.

Investigation in a third case of money laundering against the former cricket czar, sources said, is also "underway" which is related to the alleged misappropriation of funds in allotment of cricket media rights by BCCI in 2009.

"About 16 cases being probed under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) are in the final stages of adjudication, which means final orders for penalty will be served in the coming months against the accused which includes all the important functionaries of the IPL-BCCI including Modi.

"The cases amount to violations of an estimated Rs 1,600 crore and the the maximum penalty that can be slapped on the accused could be three times of this amount," a source said.

However, Lalit Modi took to micro blogging site Twitter, to inform that he hadn't received any summon yet. 

I have received no summons. They know where I live in london. Awaiting the same https://t.co/7GJ9Q6yVqU — Lalit Kumar Modi (@LalitKModi) July 6, 2015