Was there a secret meeting between officials of the income tax (I-T) and enforcement directorate (ED)? It is learnt that the tax sleuths met in Mumbai recently to discuss if certain deals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) are in accordance with the Reserve Bank of India guidelines.
Sources say four officials — two each from the IT and ED — met on Tuesday to discuss the deals signed by the IPL with offshore companies. The purpose of the meeting was to see if the deals were in conformity with Fera (Foreign Exchange Regulation Act) rules.
The exact nature of the discussion among them is not known but a couple of those officials had flown down from New Delhi to see if the IPL had kept the RBI in the loop over the deals they signed with foreign companies.
“The meeting was to exchange information and see if the RBI has been informed about it. RBI is the nodal agency and it has to be informed about all the deals,” said a source on the condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, reports said, a team of tax sleuths is being sent by the government to Mauritius to probe certain companies through which several hundred crores of rupees are suspected to have been routed into some consortium owning IPL teams.
The decision to send the teams was taken after a preliminary probe by central investigative agencies showed that large amounts of funds were moved through specific Mauritius-based firms which were set up in 2008 when the first IPL came into being. The special team consisting of members of the economic offences wing of the finance ministry will leave for the tax haven soon
Why after all this publicity and after the fabled horse has bolted the stable? What were the top bosses doing all these years? Will they also declare as to the number of complimentary VVIP passes received by their officers and their families? Will the FM have the courage of conviction to enlarge the scope of the investigation so as to make it all-inclusive and cover the names/addresses/designations of all the recipients of complimentary free VVIP passes (with numbers thereof to each recipients) for entry into the VVIP Enclosures of the respective venues and the No. and names at least of bureaucrats who were out of station on tour during the tournament at different places?
This is an open challenge to the Hon’ble FM and the CBI.