N Srinivasan questioned by Enforcement Directorate in IPL money laundering case

N Srinivasan, former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and International Cricket Council (ICC) top official, was on Monday questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Indian Premier League (IPL) money laundering case, according to a report in Hindustan Times. [caption id=“attachment_3742285” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of N Srinivasan. Reuters[/caption] The case pertains to the transfer of Rs 253.45 crore to Cricket South Africa (CSA) by the BCCI in 2009 for the holding of the second season of the IPL, allegedly without the prior approval of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), according to the report. Transfer of funds without RBI approval is a violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act. Srinivasan was cross-examined by the lawyers of the former IPL chairman Lalit Modi. The then treasurer of the board, MP Pandove was questioned separately. Srinivasan, however, dodged the questions and said that he is “too aged to recollect the details”, according to a Deccan Chronicle report. “I do not want to comment on anything,” he told the Hindustan Times post the hearing. “The case took a curious turn today as Srinivasan pushed on the blame to Shashank Manohar and MP Pandove, the then-treasurer of BCCI. He displayed selective amnesia, but did blame both of them, stating that the president and treasurer, who worked under Manohar following his orders, had the powers to act and not him,” Modi’s lawyer, Mehmood Abidi was quoted as saying by the Deccan Chronicle. Srinivasan also expressed his inability to read legal documents citing problems with his vision. He also said that he was ignorant about the transfer of funds and that the then-president Manohar and then-treasurer Pandova were responsible for the said transaction. Both Manohar and Pandove pleaded their innocence. While Manohar said that it was the responsibility of the secretary and treasurer to implement the resolutions of the BCCI working committee, Pandove, according to Abidi, said that it was Srinivasan’s decision to not seek RBI’s approval for transfer of funds. Manohar had also said that he was not kept in loop by the working committee while taking its decisions, according to Abidi. In February, the Bombay High Court had accepted the plea of Modi’s lawyers to question former BCCI officials to examine their roles in the transfer of funds fiasco.