ED e-mails summons to Lalit Modi in money laundering case

A day after ex-IPL chief Lalit Modi's lawyer returned the summons issued to his client by the Enforcement Directorate, the central agency on Wednesday e-mailed a copy of the document to the controversial cricket administrator.

"We have e-mailed a copy of the summons to Lalit Modi after his lawyer returned the copy," an ED officer said in Mumbai on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Modi's lawyer had returned the copy of the summons to the ED saying he was not authorised to receive it.

The ED had last Friday issued summons to Modi through his lawyer in a money-laundering case registered against him here, seeking his presence at its office within three weeks. The case relates to a 2008 deal between World Sports Group (WSG) and Multi Screen Media (MSM) for television rights of Indian Premier League (IPL) worth Rs 425 crore.

In 2008, BCCI had awarded media rights for ten years to WSG for USD 918 million. WSG entered into a deal with MSM to make Sony the official broadcaster. The contract was replaced a year later with a nine-year deal where MSM paid US $1.63 billion. The ED started a probe in 2009 under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to investigate whether payment of Rs 425 crore facilitation fee by MSM Singapore to WSG Mauritius was made illegally.