New Delhi: Sixteen years after leaving India amid multiple investigations, IPL founder and former chairman Lalit Modi has announced that he plans to return to the country by the end of this year or early next year, calling a recent tribunal ruling a vindication of his long-held stand in the 2009 IPL South Africa FEMA case.
In a video posted on Instagram on Wednesday, Modi said the verdict had finally established “the truth” after a legal battle spanning more than a decade and a half.
“I’m really happy with the verdict yesterday. It’s really been a great day. Sixteen years I have fought and whatever I have been saying to the media and to everybody has finally emerged as the truth,” he said.
He added that he had “only been concerned with the well-being of the IPL” and described the judgment as the closing of a long chapter in his life.
“I’m looking forward to coming back to India. I will come back probably end of this year or early next year. My daughter is due with my grandson in October and hopefully everything will be well and I’ll be back in India,” Modi said.
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‘London is my home’
In the accompanying caption, however, Modi clarified that London would remain his permanent home.
“As I have always maintained, transparency matters. The facts are on record, and I trust people to judge them for themselves… I will continue to live in London which is my home… But I will plan to visit India from time to time,” he wrote.
The announcement comes a day after the Appellate Tribunal under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act (SAFEMA) granted major relief to Modi, the BCCI and other appellants in the long-running case related to the 2009 Indian Premier League season, which was shifted to South Africa after the general election schedule clashed with the tournament.
The tribunal set aside most of the Enforcement Directorate’s findings and penalties, ruling that the overseas remittances linked to the tournament were current account transactions under FEMA rather than the capital account transactions alleged by the ED. It also held that Modi was not responsible for ensuring FEMA compliance on behalf of the BCCI in the manner alleged by the agency.
Modi, who conceptualised and launched the IPL in 2008, left India in 2010 shortly after being suspended by the BCCI over allegations of financial irregularities and misconduct. He has since lived in London while contesting multiple legal proceedings, consistently denying wrongdoing. Although several investigations were initiated over the years, the 2009 IPL South Africa FEMA case remained one of the most prominent legal battles against him.