Since its high-decibel launch two years ago, the IPL, the 20-over cricket league launched by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has been mired in controversies. However, developments in the past week, spurred by high-profile IPL chairman Lalit Modi?s disclosures on the Kochi franchise, have seen unprecedented muck spilling out.

Interestingly, most controversies, which largely involve allegations of dubious deals, hefty kickbacks, and an intricate cobweb of companies registered outside India, have been linked with Modi. Officially, Modi is an honorary member of the board and isn?t entitled to any remuneration or monetary benefits from running the show.

According to BCCI insiders, he has remained unscathed, so far, because most people directly or indirectly involved with the IPL were happy with the way it continued to break its own record of spewing money.

The deals

It is well known that the IPL management renegotiated its broadcast deal with Multi Screen Media Pvt Ltd from $1.02 billion in the first year to $1.6 billion in 2009. According to BCCI insiders, under the renegotiated deal, MSM was not only arm-twisted to raise the broadcast fee but also to pay a ?facilitation fee? of 7.5% of the value of its renegotiated contract to sports marketing company WSG. The first two installments of this fee have already been paid by MSM to WSG Mauritius, say the insiders.

Lalit Modi could not be reached for comment. When contacted, MSM?s head of advertising sales, Rohit Gupta, refused to comment. ?We don?t comment on our contract. It?s confidential,? he said. Venu Nair, CEO, WSG, however, denied charges of the company being a conduit firm for routing money back to some people in the IPL management. ?No. I don?t think it?s true,? he said.

A similar issue that rocked the board last year was the contract IPL signed with sports marketing and production company IMG, promising a commission equivalent to 10% of the annual revenues generated by IPL. ?The global average for such contracts is 3-4%. What it entailed was quite obvious,? said the top executive of a company active in sports marketing business that has been associated with IMG and BCCI in the past.

All In The Family

As allegations of Modi?s kith and kin holding stakes in IPL offshoots come to the fore, the Enforcement Directorate, when it probes the shareholding structures of various such entities, is expected to stumble upon an intricate trail of companies registered in places such as British Virgin Islands, Bahamas, and Mauritius.

Rajasthan Royals, the inaugural champion of the IPL, is owned by four shareholders?Modi?s brother-in-law Suresh Chellaram and his family based out of Nigeria (44.15%), Manoj Badale, a close associate of the family (32.4%), Lachlan Murdoch, the estranged son of media baron Rupert Murdoch (11.74%) and the rest by UK-based entrepreneur Raj Kundra and his family.

?All these shareholders have at least two to four layers of companies registered in the British Virgin Islands, Bahamas and Guernsey that own stakes in EM Sporting Holdings Ltd (the holding company of the Jaipur IPL Cricket Ltd, which, in turn, is the registered entity in India that owns Rajasthan Royals),? said a senior BCCI official.

According to him, the Chellaram family has at least three intermediary companies that ultimately hold the majority stake held by him and his family members. EM Sporting Holdings, itself, is registered in Maritius.

Another instance involves the way in which the global digital rights for cricket-related content, granted to a company called Live Current Media, finally found their way to Global Cricket Ventures, a company registered in Mauritius. This company, it recently emerged, is 50% owned by UK-based Elephant Capital, promoted by the Burman brothers of the homegrown consumer products manufacturing company Dabur India. Gaurav Burman, one of the partners of Elephant Capital, is the son-in-law of Modi. His brother Mohit Burman is a co-owner of Kings XI Punjab.

When asked about the Burmans? links to IPL, Modi had said it wasn?t his fault that some of his relatives were smart businessmen and could see a good business opportunity in the IPL.