PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

PROJECT REOPRT ON
INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE
SCAMS
UNDER SUPREVISION

Prof. Ashok Advani

Submitted By
Group 4
Anshul Dave
Kajal Gupta
Puneet Singh Dhani
Sharon Elizabeth Joshi
Shubhangi Agrawal

Submission Date-(08/02/2020)
Lalit Modi –IPL Scam 2009
Considered as one of the biggest IPL Scams, Lalit Modi the brain behind the IPL was
charged by the Directorate of Enforcement a sum of Rs 121.56 crore in 2009. The basis of the
charge was transfer of funds to South Africa without the approval of the RBI, the
controversial World Sports Group Contract, consultancy payments abroad, the introduction of
strategic time outs that weren’t part of the contract and guarantee of IPL players.

The funds that were transferred to South Africa during the IPL2, 2009 amounted to violation
of the Foreign Exchange Management Act equivalent to Rs1350 crores. This was done
without the legal approval of the Reserve Bank of India and proceeds of the second edition
were also not remitted back to the foreign exchange earnings. The other scam was the
contract with WSCG on 15th March, 2009 which also violated the FEMA. The reason why
this contract was questionable was because WSCG had no prior experience and was chosen
over Multi Screen Media, a subsidiary of Sony. Moreover, the group failed to provide a bank
guarantee of Rs355 crores and find a subcontractor for telecast. However, within a week, a
settlement was made between MSM and WSCG, where the former would pay Rs425 crores.
This raised questions as to how a group which did not pay the bank guarantee amount
received Rs425 crores.

Lalit Modi was also charged for the involvement of the sixty seconds strategic timeouts
introduced in the second edition of the Indian Premier League, which were not included in
the contract and hence, resulted in loss of revenue. He was also accused of favouritism and
biases as he handed the ‘150 seconds’ ads within balls’ without giving any information to
former Sony chief Kunal Dasgupta as against the board’s interests. The final scam levied on
Lalit Modi was that the IPL van Scam that was hired at three times above its market value.

In addition to the above mentioned scams, as many as sixteen foreign exchange violation
cases amounting to approximately Rs1700 crores was enforced by the ED on Lalit Modi on
account of financial irregularities found in the second season of the IPL. Planning a league
with England clubs, not disclosing his association to owners with internet rights (Guarav
Burman), bid rigging, and taking decisions without consultation and approval of the council
resulted in his suspension by the BCCI.

In addition to his suspension and fine levied on him, his passport was revoked to prevent him
from fleeing the country in March 2011. However, with the help of MP Keith Vaz, he was
able to secure travelling documents and due to the leniency of the then foreign minister
Sushma Swaraj (as evident in the emails that were leaked), Lalit Modi was able to travel to
the UK. The link with Sushma Swaraj raised questions because of her husband provided legal
advice for over 22 years.
People involved in this case:
 LALIT MODI , IPL COMMISSIONER
 SHARAD PAWAR
 SHASHI THAROOR
 PRAFUL PATEL
 SUSHMA SWARAJ

Lalit Modi

Scam 1-
During IPL 2 Lalit Modi introduced an extra time of 600 seconds. This 600 seconds of extra
timeout was not included in the contract. BCCI said doing this Modi caused a loss of revenue
worth Rs29 cores to board.

Scam 2-
Modi was alleged by Enforcement directorate for contravention of the Foreign exchange Act
(FEMA). It was found that he transferred Rs 243 crore out of the country to host IPL 2009 in
South Africa. For this he violated the RBI guidelines meant for transferring funds to abroad.

Sushma Swaraj
Sushma Swaraj was involved in bailing out Lalit Modi and his links with Rajasthan Chief
Minister. It was said that she helped Lalit Modi to obtain British Travel document and she
also got strong support from government and BJP when the opposition asked for her
resignation.

Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel

Sharad Pawar was accused of defending Sushma Swaraj and Lalit Modi. Lalit Modi said that
Praful Patel, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Rajiv Shukla helped Modi in getting travel papers.

Shashi Tharoor
Modi said that Shashi Tharoor Indian National Congress minister held indirect free equity
shares in the franchise called Kochi Tuskers Kerala IPL, which also became the reason for
Tharoor’s resignation.
Impact
The problem in this case was that Lalit Modi used his position in a wrong way. Modi
transferred funds to South Africa without the approval of RBI which is illegal as any transfer
of money requires the permission of RBI. The main failure in this case was that the money
was transferred without the approval of RBI. This makes the transfer illegal as it violated the
FEMA. Modi was also alleged that he changed rules according to his needs. He was also
accused of biasness and favouritism. He used his position in a wrong manner. He did not
disclose that he is planning a league with England and his association with owners of Internet
rights. He also took many decisions without consultation and approval of the council. He also
illegally got the British travel document with the help of Sushma Swaraj.

Modi also violated the confidentiality agreement when he revealed the name of Sunanda
Pushkar, who he alleged to be a sweat equity holder in Rendezvous Sports World. RSW
claimed that Modi was creating a problem for Kochi as he wanted other bidders to win. Many
important documents were also missing from the offices of IPL and BCCI. Lalit Modi was
suspended as the Chairman of IPL for alleged acts of Individual misdemeanours. Modi was
also officially barred from taking part in the affairs of the board, the IPL or any other
committee of the BCCI.

Players,”supervisors and the stakeholders are among the key partners, whose interests should
be recognized and protected for good corporate administration. Be that as it may, until now,
the choices made by the IPL are apparently pompous. In this manner, regardless of the higher
totals of cash they make during their moderately short professions, the normal cricketer's
fortune is probably going to endure because of such blunder. With the related issue of over-
burdens in plans (covering the IPL plan with other national/worldwide occasions) and
numerous obligations (to the country and to the club), it turns out to be progressively hard for
the expert cricketer to remain fit and damage free.”

Tax exemption
The ICC received a tax exemption in 2011 on the total revenue that it earned from the World
Cup. This resulted in a loss of approximately Rs45 crores. This was unethical because the tax
exemption that the Hyderabad Cricket association claimed for 11000 complimentary tickets
were sold at very high prices. Moreover, the process for applying and filing for tax exemption
was done without consulting the sports secretary B Venkatesham and was rather done
through an IAS officer that that no connection with the sports authority. The reason why the
sports secretary was surpassed was because he had earlier rejected the tax exemption
proposal and therefore, the organisers used unethical practices to meet their demands. The tax
department were not convinced about the workability of the exemption as huge sponsorships
were received in the world cup. The tax exemption granted to ICC using the discretionary
powers were considered unjustified and devoid of merit by the government.
People involved in this case:
Subhash Desai leader of Shiv Sena filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) stating that Income
Tax Department and the Maharashtra government should collect the entertainment tax from
IPL. The process for applying and filing for tax exemption was done without consulting the
sports secretary B Venkatesham and was rather done through an IAS officer that that no
connection with the sports authority.

Impact
A PIL was filed by Shiv Sena Leader Subhash Desai against IPL saying that IPL matches are
for entertainment of the public and tickets are also too expensive. He also asked the
petitioners to add Sharad Pawar as a party. So, he asked them to give no exemption.

Spot fixing 2012

The spot fixing scam involved 2012 came in the limelight after a sting operation by Jamshed
Khan and Sushant Pathak was conducted was aired on India TV. In the video that was aired,
five IPL players involved in unethical practices of selling matches for a sum of money were
banned.

The cricketer that received lifetime ban included TP Sudhindra of Deccan Chargers, Five
year ban was imposed on Shalabh Srivastava of Kings X1 Punjab whereas Mohnish Mishra
of Pune Warriors India, Amit Yadav of Kings X1 Punjab and Abhinav Bali were banned for
one year. TP Sudhindra had charged Rs50,000 to bowl a wide ball during the IPL match and
Mohnish Mishra who was an uncapped player claimed that he has received approximately
12-14 million by his franchise, over the BCCI guidelines of Rs3 million.

This was the third time in Indian cricket history that two players were suspended for life for
indulging in unethical practices of accepting money under the table and disrespecting the
spirit of the game.

People involved in this case:

  Deccan Chargers: TP Sudhindra,
  Kings XI Punjab: Shalabh Srivastava
 Pune Warriors India: Mohnish Mishra 
 Kings XI Punjab: Amit Yadav
 Abhinav Bali
Shalabh Srivastava said that the franchise gave them the extra money then required and that
money was illegal and black money. They said that all the cricketers involved received more
money from the owners than agreed during the auction. Bali who was not in contact with any
of the franchise was involved in the spot-fixing in IPL 2009. Mohnish Mishra’s received
around Rs12 million to Rs14 million from his franchise Pune Warriors India. TP Sudhindra
also said that he purposely bowled a no ball on the wish of the reporter in a domestic match.
These all incidents were against the BCCI guidelines.

Impact
5 players were caught in a sting operation. The problem was the willingness to take bribe.
The players could have refused but they accepted that the money they received was black
money. There are many things wrong in this case. A cricketer in no way should be connected
with a bookie. It is the responsibility of the franchise that a cricketer is not faced by these
things and they should make sure that this does not happen. Also, a cricketer should not go
for money and be ethical towards his profession. Ravi Sawani, the former chief of ICC’s
Anti-corruption Unit headed the preliminary enquiry of the case. It was decided that strict
action will be taken against the people who were found guilty. Bans were imposed on all five
with a life ban on T.P Sudhindra, Five year ban on Shalabh Srivastava and Amit Yadav both
were the players of Kings XI Punjab. Abhinav bali was also banned for a year.

Spot fixing 2013

The 2013 spot fixing scam involved the arrest of three Rajasthan Royals’ cricketers
Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan. In addition to cricketers, the 2013 IPL scam
also included the arrest of bookies, Sunil Bhatia, Yahya Mohammad and Vinpod
Mulchandani as well as franchise owners Raj Kundra (Rajasthan Royals) and Gurunath
Meiyappan (Chennai Super Kings).

Sunil Bhatia was also accused and arrested for allegedly fixing matches not just for IPL in
2013 but also for the Indian Cricket League and Bangladesh Premier League. On the other
hand during his arrest from Hyderabad airport on 25th May 2013, approximately Rs12.8
million cash was found in the possession of bookie, Vinpod Mulchandani.

Confession by Raj Kundra on 5th June 2013 that he had placed bets on his IPL team with his
friend, who was a bookie led to his suspension as the owner of the franchise and removal of
all his shares by 10th June 2013. Gurunath Meiyappan was also disowned by his franchise for
he was allegedly found guilty for betting by the Mumbai Crime Branch. Vindhu Dara Singh’s
frequent calls to him raised doubts relating to his involvement in the betting scam as well. As
a result of Gurunath Meiyappan’s involvement in the betting scam, the CSK team were
banned for a period of two years.

The evidence provided by the police was that the three players were involved in spot fixing in
matches against Pune Warriors, Kings XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians on 5th, 9th and 15th
May, respectively. Ajit Chandila was involved for charging Rs40 lakhs for giving fourteen
runs in an over, an unethical practice that was against the spirt of cricket and loyalty to his
team. Also, he was the meditator between Ankeet Chavan and a bookie that involved a
receiving a sum of Rs60 lakhs to do as directed by the bookie. Sreeshant, who was charged
on account for his controversial use of the towel in his trousers before his bowling spell in the
second over led to his arrest. However, he was discharged later against all betting charges.

People involved in this case:

  Rajasthan Royals: Sreesanth
  Rajasthan Royals: Ajit Chandila 
  Rajasthan Royals: Ankeet Chavan
 Vindu Dara Singh
 Gurunath Meiyappan
 Sunil Bhatia
 Raj Kundra

These all the three players were involved in bookies. Vindu Dara Singh and (CSK) Gurunath
Meiyappan were accused that they are involved in betting and also have links with cookies.
In addition to cricketers, the 2013 IPL scam also included the arrest of bookies, Sunil Bhatia,
Yahya Mohammad and Vinpod Mulchandani. Sunil Bhatia was also arrested for allegedly
fixing matches not just for IPL in 2013 but also for the Bangladesh Premier League and
Indian Cricket Leagu. Raj Kundra also confessed of placing bets on his IPL team.

Impact

Spot fixing and betting scam of IPL 2013”arose when the Delhi Police arrested the three
cricketers of Rajasthan Royals, Ajit Chandila, S Sreesanth, and Ankeet Chavan on the
allegations of spot fixing. Hours after the arrest, the BCCI suspended the three players as
BCCI has zero tolerance to corruption. In 2015, Sreesanth, Chandila and Chavan were
cleared of all the charges after being found innocent. But in 2016, Chandila was banned for
life from all forms of cricket by BCCI. Th owners of Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan
Royals were found to be engaged in betting and betting in India is a crime. The rules of IPL
also states that if any team official/owner of any team is found to be involved in betting, then
the team can be suspended. In this case, Gurunath Meiyappan of CSK and Raj kundra of RR
were found to be guilty of betting and hence both the teams were suspended.”

Conclusion
The Indian Premier League which was meant to be a platform to allow young cricketers
showcase their talent has since its inception been under the scanner due to a number of
scams. Spot fixing, accepting and giving bribes to players to change the dynamics of the
game for their personal gain are some of the unethical practices that have been adopted in the
IPL since the beginning.
Accepting bribes and money under the table from bookies or match fixers would create short
term monetary gains but create a dent on the player’s image forever and a permanent ban
from the sport altogether.
Therefore, in our opinion, every league should be played keeping in mind the true spirit of the
game. An individual’s loyalty and enthusiasm towards his team is priceless and any amount
of money cannot compensate for it.