Sharad Pawar and daughter Supriya Sule linked to Pune IPL franchise
Allegations and accusations continue to fly thick and fast amongst the various present and ex members of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the media over the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Times of India, an Indian daily published a report on Wednesday stating that Sharad Pawar the former president of the BCCI owns approximately 16% stake in City Corporation, a construction company from Pune which had bid for the Pune franchise. City Corporation had bid Rs 1,176 crores (US$261.1m) but had eventually lost the bid to Sahar Group which had a winning bid of Rs 1,703 crore (US$370m).
Lalit Modi surprisingly though speaking in favour of Mr. Sharad Pawar, has rubbished the allegations saying that even though Sharad Pawar and his daughter, Supriya Sule, own a stake in City Corporation it is the managing director of City Corporation, Aniruddha Deshpande, who in his personal capacity has bid for the Pune Franchise.
Supriya clarified that the company board had passed a resolution wherein the company will not be involved with the bidding for the franchise. It was stated in the newspaper that Sharad Pawar, his wife and daughter together own 3.36 million shares out of a total of 20.7 million shares in the company.
The stake ownership is achieved through two companies - Lap Finance and Consultancy Pvt Ltd and Namratta Film Enterprises Pvt Ltd – both of which are owned by the Pawar family. Mr. Deshpande said that he had made in the bid in his personal capacity and the board had just allowed him to use the name of the company in the bid documents. The bid document mentioned that a new company would be set if and when Mr. Deshpande makes a successful bid for the Pune franchise.
In another twist to the tale, suspended chairman, Lalit Modi alleged that the current chairman of the IPL Chirayu Amin was a part of the City Corporation consortium that bid for the Pune Franchise and had done so without seeking appropriate permission from the board to do so. Amin responding to Modi’s allegations has confirmed that was indeed a part of the consortium but also stated that he had informed BCCI and all its board members about the bid.
The consortium was led by Anirrudha Deshpande and Mumbai Cricket Association was the technical partner in the consortium. Chirayu Amin stated that he had been asked by a group of business asking him to join the consortium. Amin said that he had planned with the permission of the board to invest 10% in the consortium through his company Glycodin if the bid was successful. Lalit Modi though has allaged that it was Chirayu Amin who had approach Mr. Deshpande and his consortium in seeking participation in the consortium. The interim chairman has vehemently refuted the claim.
Chirayu Amin has also got the support of the current President of BCCi Shashank Manohar who came out strongly against Lalit Modi stating that all the allegation made by Modi were. Mr. Manohar also said that he felt the need to come out a clarification as Modi’s allegations were bring the board and its members falsely into disrepute. Shashank Manohar said that it was in fact Lalit Modi who had asked the consortium to get in touch with Amin so he could be included in the consortium.Manohar also confirmed that Amin had informed the board through a letter about his involvement in the bid and how it had been brought about. The IPL drama continues to get murkier with each stakeholder now involved in mud throwing at each other. We definitely haven’t seen the end of it.
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