Sports Ministry has asked the Finance Ministry to order an expeditious probe into charges of black money playing a part in the IPL cricket matches. Sports Minister Ajay Maken told the Lok Sabha today that the Sports Secretary has written a letter last week in this regard to the Revenue Secretary and has sought the inquiry to be conducted in an expeditious manner by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Income Tax Department.

Mr.Maken also said that 19 notices have been issued to IPL and BCCI for FEMA violations to the tune of 1,077 crore rupees and Sports Ministry Joint Secretary has also written a letter to the ED on 17th of this month seeking expeditious probe into the matter.

The Sports Minister was responding to an issue raised by

former cricketer Kirti Azad of BJP, who made a strong pitch

for a special audit by independent people into the conduct of

the BCCI and other concerned sports organisations which were registered.

Maken also made a strong pitch for bringing the BCCI under Right to Information, saying the Central Information

Commission was hearing the issue. The Sports Minister said BCCI qualifies for being brought under RTI in view of the fact that its single-most important function was to select the Indian team.He said the BCCI and other cricket associations have got a large amount of land almost free from state governments and other institutions.

Seeking to dismiss charges by Azad that the government

treats the BCCI with kid-gloves due to backing of influential

people, Mr.Maken said the government has acted expeditiously against the BCCI in the past and has ensured that it no longer enjoyed tax exemptions as a charitable body.

He said IT Department had ensured the BCCI to pay income tax dues of 365.24 crore rupees from 1996-97 to 2006-07.
The income tax realised in 2007-08 was 118 crore rupees , while the tax liability of 2008-09 was 257.12 crore rupees , of which 131 crore rupees have been realised. For rest of the amount, the BCCI has gone to the tax tribunal.