Lalit Modi slapped with fresh showcause notice

Mumbai:

Beleaguered Lalit Modi on Thursday got into fresh problems with BCCI issuing a showcause notice to him after the English cricket board accused him of inciting counties to overpower their governing body and the players to revolt if not allowed to play in IPL.

The five-page BCCI showcause notice, a copy of which is available with PTI, made a series of serious allegations against the suspended IPL Commissioner, giving him 15 days to respond to charges.

BCCI secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement that the Board issued the showcause notice after it received an e-mail from England and Wales Cricket Board chairman Giles Clarke.

"The BCCI has issued another showcause notice to Mr Lalit K Modi today, based on an email received from Mr Giles Clarke...informing the President, BCCI, about the activities of Mr Lalit K Modi, which are detrimental to Indian cricket, English cricket and World cricket at large," Srinivasan said in a cryptic statement.

The showcause notice referred to Modi's March 31 meeting in Delhi with representatives of English counties such as Yorkshire, Lancashire and Warwickshire in which the suspended IPL chief allegedly talked about a parallel IPL in the England and Wales in which eight existing franchises would bid for nine counties in UK.

"You have allegedly discussed this as a commercial proposition...and also set out that IPL would guaranty each county a minimum of USD 3-5 million per annum plus a staging fee of USD 1.5 million if the counties supported this idea," the notice said.

"You have allegedly offered a structured deal, by which the returns would be shared 80:20 between the franchises and the counties, a player model based on the IPL model and offered inducement to gather the rest of the county members to support your ideas and goad them to overpower their own governing bodies," it said.

"You have allegedly planted a seed of thought of players' revolt if the governing bodies of respective cricket boards do not allow them to participate in this extended version of IPL," it added.

If Clarke's allegations are true, Srinivasan said Modi's activities would amount to a blow to "the very foundation of the way cricket is administered and played across the world".

"It challenges not just the authority of BCCI but also (that of) ECB and suggested that IPL would henceforth literally shift to the hands of the franchises and the respective national governing bodies would be forced to watch helplessly while the game and the power of administration are hijacked," Srinivasan said.

"Therefore after due consultation with President BCCI, this showcause notice is a being issued to you, calling upon you to give your explanation to the above grave charges within 15 days of receipt of this showcause notice, failing which it will be deemed that you have no explanation to offer," the notice said.

This is a fresh blow for Modi, who was suspended from the Indian Premier League Commissioner's post pending a BCCI probe into allegations of financial irregularities, nepotism and rigging bids and the administrator has to reply by May 10.