Facing flak over Lalit Modi issue, ED director meets senior government officials

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is facing flak for not acting against controversial former Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi. According to sources, the ED director on Thursday met senior government officials in North Block in the national capital over the issue.

Sources said that the meeting of the ED director with government officials came as the agency is in the line of fire for not taking the investigation into Lalit Modi case forward since he went abroad.

The development comes a day after the ED director on Wednesday met the Revenue Secretary to discuss FEMA and Prevention of Money Laundering Act charges against the former IPL commissioner.

The agency had on Wednesday also stepped up its probe against Lalit Modi into a foreign exchange violation case against him, which involves alleged illegal routing of Rs 21 crore funds from a Mauritius-based company.

Official sources said the case pertains to the routing of the amount a few years ago into a firm said to be owned by Modi which is based in Rajasthan and has a branch office in the national capital.

The ED had begun investigations into this case in October 2014 after it detected some foreign investment coming into this group which had Modi's relatives at the helm. But in 2007, the sources said, the businessman-turned-cricket czar took over the directorship of the company along with his wife.

The sources said the agency has already recorded the statements of a few employees of the firm who are involved in this while summons are being issued to more individuals for questioning.

A bench of the Delhi High Court had passed an order in 2014 restoring Lalit Modi’s passport, which was cancelled by a single-judge bench earlier.

Following the judgement, as per the procedure, a law officer in-charge of the case was supposed to send copies of the judgement restoring Lalit Modi’s passport to different ministries, with views whether it could be challenged or not. However, this process is yet to be done.

Only after this process, the Ministry of External Affairs can take a decision on whether on challenging or not challenging the court's decision.