Lalit Modi plans India return after 16 years as tribunal sets aside ED penalty in IPL 2009 case: ‘going to move on’

IPL founder and first chairman Lalit Modi is set to return to India, after tribunal quashes Enforcement Directorate (ED) penalty in IPL 2009 FEMA case. Modi on Wednesday said, “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."

"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 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.” Lalit Modi added.

The Appellate Tribunal under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators - Forfeiture of Property - Act (SAFEMA) has given major relief to Lalit Modi and other appellants by setting aside most of the ED's findings and penalties in the 2009 IPL South Africa FEMA case.

Tribunal overturns key ED findings in IPL 2009 FEMA case

The Appellate Tribunal under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act (SAFEMA) delivered its order on July 16, granting substantial relief to Lalit Modi, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and other appellants by setting aside most of the ED's findings and penalties linked to the 2009 IPL season held in South Africa.

The case dates back to the relocation of the IPL from India to South Africa in 2009 after security concerns arose due to the General Elections. To organise the tournament overseas, the BCCI transferred funds to South Africa. The Enforcement Directorate later alleged that foreign exchange remittances worth ₹243.45 crore had been made without prior approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), amounting to violations of FEMA.

The agency issued show cause notices in 2011 before imposing penalties in 2018 against Modi, former BCCI officials and others.

Tribunal says RBI approval was not required

Reacting to the ruling, Modi said the tribunal had rejected the Enforcement Directorate's principal argument, fundamentally altering the basis of the case.

“The tribunal has rejected the central premise on which the Enforcement Directorate’s case against me had been built. It held that the principal foreign remittances relating to the staging of IPL 2009 in South Africa were Current Account transactions, not Capital Account transactions, thereby overturning the foundation of the earlier findings.”

Under FEMA, current account transactions of this nature do not require prior RBI approval, a conclusion that proved central to the tribunal's decision.

Modi also said the tribunal found that he was not personally responsible for ensuring the BCCI's statutory compliance under FEMA.

“The tribunal also found that I was neither responsible for BCCI’s statutory FEMA compliance nor vested with the financial authority alleged by the Enforcement Directorate, and it has set aside the penalties imposed on me in the principal proceedings. This marks the conclusion of what has been the single most significant legal matter arising from the 2009 South Africa IPL.”

Lalit Modi says legal chapter has ended

The tribunal's decision removes one of the most significant legal hurdles that has followed Lalit Modi since he left India in 2010. While the ruling pertains specifically to the IPL 2009 FEMA proceedings, Modi said it brings closure to a dispute that has dominated much of his public life over the past decade and a half.

With the tribunal ruling in his favour, Modi now says he intends to return to India after spending 16 years overseas, signalling what he described as the beginning of a new chapter after a prolonged legal battle.