Global sports firm reports ex-BCCI board member for ‘FEMA violations’

New Delhi: A California-based sports management company, which has Elon Musk as one of its directors, in its latest filing with US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has stated that one of its employees was named in a complaint filed by India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) in January 2015 for allegedly indulging in violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
These transactions that took place in 2009, were done “under the direction and control of one of the board members of the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI)”. As per the filings by Endeavor Group Holdings, the investigation in the case is still in “its early stages”.
At the time, the BCCI was headed by Shashank Manohar, while N. Srinivasan was the secretary, Sanjay Jagdale, the joint secretary, and M.P. Pandove was the treasurer. The annual report of the BCCI of 2008-2009 does not mention this incident. “An employee of the company is one of several individuals and entities named in a complaint by India’s Director of Enforcement initially filed in January 2015, alleging violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act,” Endeavor stated in its filings.
“The complaint alleges that the employee participated as an advisor in a series of transactions in 2009 that were completed by and on behalf of a client, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (the ‘BCCI’), and that contravened two provisions of FEMA. The subject transactions were pursued under the direction and control of one of the BCCI’s board members,” the filing says without naming the said board member who directed the company officials to allegedly execute actions that violated FEMA provisions.
According to its statement, “The Company is not alleged to have possessed any funds improperly or to have made or received any of the payments that are alleged to have violated FEMA and that the company is cooperating with the investigation which, at present, is in its early stages.”
In May 2018, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) slapped a penalty of over Rs 121 crore on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and its former top officials. This was in relation to the alleged flaunting of FEMA in transferring over Rs 243 crore out of the country to host the 2009 edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa.
In March 2015, the ED had issued show-cause notices to four IPL teams in connection with a foreign exchange violation case during the second edition of the T-20 cricket extravaganza of IPL in South Africa held in 2009. The notices were issued to Kings XI Punjab (Jaipur IPL Cricket), Rajasthan Royals (KPH Dream Cricket), Mumbai Indians (Indiawin Sports) and Chennai Super Kings (Ms India Cements).
Emails sent to the spokesperson and other officials of Endeavor group holdings seeking details of statements made before the SEC did not elicit any response till the time the story went to press.