Despite former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi once again going on a social media blitzkrieg, this time targeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi, her nephew and BJP MP Varun Gandhi and foreign minister Sushma Swaraj’s husband Swaraj Kaushal, the government took a step forward to bring the fugitive businessman back from United Kingdom.
Seeking to nail Lalit Modi and others in a money laundering case relating to IPL, the Enforcement Directorate has now added to its FIR various charges of FEMA violations detected against them in conduct of the T-20 league to prepare a “watertight” case.
The inclusion of forex violation charges, “prima facie established” against them, in the criminal FIR lodged in connection with alleged money laundering, would bolster the Enforcement Directorate’s case as it would lend weight to its Letters <g data-gr-id="27">Rogatories</g> (request for assistance sent by a court in one country to the other).
Besides Lalit Modi, ex-BCCI President N Srinivasan and over a dozen other individuals and entities have been slapped with forex violations charges and the cases are now under adjudication. Sources privy to the development said ED sleuths have found instances connecting the trail of illegal hawala funds generated in at least 16 FEMA “contravention” instances in the IPL to the “proceeds of crime” of money laundering.
Modi, who has made the UK his home since 2010, is currently embroiled in a controversy over obtaining travel documents in that country with the help of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and for his similar dealings with Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.
Earlier in the day, Lalit Modi claimed that Varun Gandhi had offered him to “settle” all matters with Sonia Gandhi triggered a war of words between BJP and Congress, with the former seeking an explanation from the Congress President and the latter dismissing the charges as a “ploy” to divert attention.
The issue of making a job offer to Swaraj Kaushal too <g data-gr-id="20">cropped-up</g> during the day with the Opposition claiming that it was a case of conflict of interest and demanded <g data-gr-id="22">resignation</g> of <g data-gr-id="23">foreign</g> minister.