Lalit Modi set to launch civil claim for fraud against Chris Cairns

Cairns was last week found not guilty of perjury at Southwark Crown Court.

London: Former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi is set to launch a 1.5 million pound sterling civil claim for fraud against Chris Cairns, the former New Zealand all-rounder who was last week found not guilty of perjury at Southwark Crown Court, according to a media report.

According to a report in the 'Daily Telegraph', Cairns has been hit with a new legal case from Modi to be heard in March.

"Cairns will be back in the High Court in London next spring to defend a ?1.5 million civil claim for fraud brought by Lalit Modi...The case has been scheduled for the court's spring session which starts on March 7 and lasts until the end of May, with Brendon McCullum and Lou Vincent once again possibly testifying against Cairns," the report said.

Modi was successfully sued by Cairns at the High Court in 2012, an action that stemmed from an infamous tweet two years earlier, in which the former IPL chief stated that Cairns had been omitted from that year's IPL draft due to his previous history of match-fixing in the now-defunct Indian Cricket League.

"Cairns will have to appear in person to defend the claim which has been lodged by Modi in the light of new evidence emerging since their libel trial in March 2012. It is understood Modi has cited in court papers the witness statements of Vincent and McCullum given to the International Cricket Council alleging Cairns' involvement in corruption," the report added.

Modi is seeking to recoup the 90,000 pound sterling he paid in damages plus costs that mounted up to 1.5 million pound sterling.