Document shows City Corporation made IPL bid; Pawar in trouble

If City Corp MD was bidding in his personal capacity, why did he submit to the BCCI a  board resolution authorising him to bid on behalf of City Corp? Why did n’t Deshpande submit documents showing his bid was in a personal capacity?

It appears that the story put out by the Pawars and the managing director of City Corporation, Aniruddha Deshpande, that he bid for the Pune IPL franchise in his personal capacity and not on behalf of City Corp in which the Pawars have a 16 per cent stake is just that — a story. DNA has in its possession a copy of a City Corp board resolution —submitted by Deshpande to the BCCI along with his bid — expressly authorising him to bid on behalf of City Corp.

The Pawars and Deshpande have been claiming all along that City Corp passed a board resolution allowing him to make the bid in his personal capacity. If Deshpande only wanted to bid in his personal capacity, he would have to explain the need for this board resolution which clearly authorises him “to represent the company in participating, bidding, winning and operating IPL franchise for Pune in IPL-4 and onwards and to sign any agreement and other documents on behalf of the Company in relation to participating in the bidding process of IPL.” This new revelation could put Sharad Pawar in further trouble.

Also, in another twist to the tale, the BCCI president Shashank Manohar has stated that if the City Corp bid had come in the individual capacity of its managing director Anirudha Deshpande, the bid would have been rejected outright. He further added that Lalit Modi did not inform the IPL governing council that the Pune bid was being made in the individual capacity of its MD.

“Modi has said that Deshpande had informed him that though the bid was submitted on behalf of City Corp, it was in fact a personal bid on behalf of himself.

Modi did not think this an important piece of information that should be shared with the governing council. His statement becomes even more questionable in the light of the fact that the bid document tendered on behalf of City Corporation Ltd gives information only regarding City Corporation Ltd and does not give any personal information about Deshpande,” Manohar stated in a release on Saturday.

He then added, “The bid could have been rejected at the threshold if it had been from Deshpande in his individual capacity, as it did not carry the necessary information about the bidder, i.e. Deshpande.”

The point the Board president was making, it is learnt, was based on the documents submitted along with the bid. A key document was an authorisation based on the minutes of City Corporation’s Board of directors meeting on January 31 which allowed Deshpande to “participate and bid in IPL 4 on behalf of the company.”

According to sources, the Board has not been given the company’s internal documents of March 17 and 19 which reportedly allowed Deshpande to make a bid in his individual capacity.

Defending interim IPL chairman Chirayu Amin, Manohar said, “When the Pune franchisee approached him, he informed them that he might join the consortium by making an investment of up to 10 per cent. He had then given me a letter with a copy to the secretary, stating that he has been approached by the Pune franchisee.

In his letter he clearly states that should City Corporation Ltd win the bid, he would then formally approach the Board for a sanction to invest in the consortium. The letter itself makes it very clear that it was a proposal with a pre-condition attached — that Amin would seek a formal sanction only in case the bid succeeds.”

Manohar further stated he did not react earlier when Modi made allegations against him and secretary N Srinivasan because he “did not wish to dignify his ridiculous allegations with a repartee. Today I am replying, because he is trying to tarnish the image of the Board and its members.”