‘Looking forward to coming back to India’: Lalit Modi after Tribunal relief in 2009 IPL South Africa case
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‘Looking forward to coming back to India’: Lalit Modi after Tribunal relief in 2009 IPL South Africa case
Lalit Modi welcomed the tribunal’s decision and said he planned to return to the country later this year
IPL founder and former chairman Lalit Modi on Wednesday said he would return to India after October, following a ruling by the Appellate Tribunal under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act (SAFEMA) that set aside most of the Enforcement Directorate’s findings and penalties against him in the 2009 IPL South Africa FEMA case.
In a video message shared with ANI, Modi welcomed the tribunal’s decision and said he planned to return to the country later this year.
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“I’m really happy with the verdict yesterday. It’s really been a great day. 16 years, I have fought, and whatever I have been saying to the media and to everybody has finally emerged as the truth. I’m really happy that the tribunal has ruled in my favour. I was only concerned with the well-being of the IPL and nothing and nothing at all. That is the most dear to me,” he said.
“Now that chapter is behind me, I’m going to move on in my life, and I’m looking forward to coming back to India. I will come back probably at the end of this year or early next year. My daughter is due with my grandson in October, and hopefully everything will be well, and I’ll be back in India,” he added.
Earlier on Tuesday, a bench of Chairman Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Member Rajesh Malhotra partly allowed the appeals against the ED’s order dated May 31, 2018, which had imposed penalties on BCCI, Lalit Modi, N Srinivasan, M P Pandove, the State Bank of India and its former Chief Manager A K Nazeer Khan for alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
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The case pertains to the 2009 IPL season, which was relocated from India to South Africa due to the Lok Sabha elections. The Enforcement Directorate had alleged that the BCCI violated provisions of FEMA while remitting funds abroad for organising the tournament and had imposed penalties worth several crores on the cricket body and its office-bearers.
The Appellate Tribunal also absolved the authorised dealer bank and one of its officers, holding that the foreign remittances were processed in the normal course of business and did not constitute FEMA violations.
However, the Tribunal upheld the ED’s findings on two counts. It retained the Rs 4 crore penalty on the BCCI for remitting an amount exceeding what was recorded in its books of accounts. It also upheld the finding of a delay in repatriating ticket sale proceeds to India but reduced the penalty on that count from Rs 4 crore to Rs 1 crore, observing that the funds were ultimately brought back to the country.
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The Tribunal, however, set aside the penalty imposed on Lalit Modi on the issue of delayed repatriation, observing that he had already been suspended and was no longer in charge when the money was brought back to India.
Moneycontrol News
first published: Jul 22, 2026 05:15 pm
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