Saturday, 7 September 2013 00:00
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ESPNCricinfo: The BCCI’s disciplinary committee has found Lalit Modi, the former IPL chairman, guilty on eight different charges of “various acts of indiscipline and misconduct”. The charges, relating to irregularities in various financial and administrative matters of the IPL including the sale of franchise and media rights, were pressed by the BCCI in 2010 soon after Modi’s swift and dramatic exit from the league he founded.
The 134-page report, prepared by a committee comprising senior BCCI functionaries Arun Jaitley, Chirayu Amin and Jyotiraditya Scindia, has been submitted to the BCCI and will be discussed at a special general meeting on 25 September. It is believed that a life ban for Modi will be recommended and accepted at the meeting.
In his reaction to the report, Modi pointed out several flaws in both the procedure and the findings. He alleged that Jaitley had a bias against him and also was the “strongest supporter” of N. Srinivasan, the BCCI President.
Modi said one of his main lines of defence was that the enquiry against him was “vitiated on account of malafide” because he had opposed Srinivasan’s conflict of interest as team owner and administrator. He claimed that Jaitley “did not allow any question to be put in respect of Srinivasan’s conflict of interest and virtually skirted the issue of Srinivasan’s conflict of interest in his report.” His response to the committee’s actual findings echoed his defence on the various charges.
The committee found Modi guilty of rigging bids during the franchise auction in 2010, arm-twisting the Kochi franchise and threatening to terminate their franchise agreement in favour of another bidder, selling media and internet rights without proper authorisation from the BCCI and showing interest in creating a rebel T20 league in England without the knowledge of the BCCI and the ECB.
