Mumbai: In what could be a setback to the efforts to bring former IPL chief Lalit Modi back to India and make him stand trial, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has refused to share with the UK authorities its probe documents.
The confidential documents are related to 15 civil cases under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) against Modi on grounds that it sought their help in getting his custody in a criminal case related to alleged money-laundering.
The ED is probing a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case against Modi, on the basis of a police case lodged in Chennai registered on the complaint of the BCCI in 2010, alleging Modi misappropriated funds during his tenure as IPL chief. The ED has sought UK authorities’ help in executing a Mumbai special court’s non-bailable warrant against Modi in a PMLA case.
A Mumbai special court had in June 2016 issued a NBW in a case related to alleged irregularities in the grant of media rights to an overseas firm for IPL’s 2009 edition in which Modi is suspected to have received multi-crore kickbacks. The court on request of the ED issued a Letters Rogotary (LR) to extradite him under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT).
Sources from the ED on the condition of anonymity revealed they had submitted the court's directions to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The MHA were to submit it to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) who would eventually execute the NBW issued against Modi. But after the union government communicated with the UK authorities, the ED was allegedly informed that they needed to share all the investigation documents collected by them to the UK investigators.
“They (UK authorities) wanted us to share details of all the 15 FEMA cases and not just those pertaining to the PMLA case against Modi,” said an ED source. The ED allegedly refused to share the investigation reports with the UK team. An ED source said, “Why should we share probe papers in which his custody has not been sought? We also fear that the documents, if shared, could get leaked, thereby weakening the agency’s case against him.” The sources explained that they want Modi to be a part of the investigation and “clear certain aspects of the case” before filing charges against him.”
Sources said the MEA’s legal team suggested that they follow the MLAT route as it does not need a chargesheet to be filed against him to facilitate extradition. “Under the MLAT provision, an NBW can be executed and we obtained permission from the PMLA court for the same. Despite this instead of going ahead with the extradition process, they are asking us to share sensitive investigation details.”
