ED says summons to Lalit Modi returned, his lawyer disputes

Lalit Modi's lawyer has returned the summons issued to the former IPL boss by the Enforcement Directorate seeking his presence before it in three weeks, maintaing he was not authorised to receive it, the Central agency said today.
Mumbai-based advocate Mehmood M Abdi, who represents Modi, however, said he had not received any such summons.
"I have not recieved any such summons," Abdi said, describing media reports in this regard as "baselss and misleading."
"ED has Mr Modi's address in the UK. They are required to serve him as per the procedure prescribed in law," Abdi said, disputing the central agency's claim.

"Reports prominently appeared in a section (of) media that summons issued by ED under PMLA to former IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Kumar Modi has been served on me is baseless and misleading," Abdi said in a statement.
The ED had last Friday issued summons to Modi through his lawyer in a money-laundering case registered against him here, seeking his presence at its office within three weeks.

"It has been returned by his lawyer who said he was not authorised by Lalit Modi to receive it," said an ED officer, adding the agency may now move court seeking issuance of non-bailable arrest warrant against the former IPL chief.

The case relates to a 2008 deal between World Sports Group (WSG) and Multi Screen Media (MSM) for television rights of Indian Premier League (IPL) worth Rs 425 crore.
In 2008, BCCI awarded media rights for ten years to WSG for USD 918 million. WSG entered into a deal with MSM to make Sony the official broadcaster. The contract was replaced a year later with a nine-year deal where MSM paid USD 1.63 billion.
The ED started a probe in 2009 under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to investigate whether payment of Rs 425 crore facilitation fee by MSM Singapore to WSG Mauritius was made illegally.