JUNE 7- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been preparing to question Rajasthan Royals (RR) co-owner Raj Kundra, sources told Headlines Today on Friday.
They said that possibly Kundra’s wife Shilpa Shetty, who too happens to be a stakeholder in RR, might also be questioned by the Delhi wing of the economic intelligence agency.
According to sources, ED has been waiting for the investigation report of Delhi Police on the alleged involvement of the couple in betting.
Earlier, a day after questioning Kundra for about 11 hours, Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar had said on Thursday that he has admitted to betting on his team during the IPL.
Kundra was never on the ED radar as an individual. However, his company was already under investigation for money laundering concerning RR for which the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchisee was penalised around Rs.100 crore by the agency in February 2013.
The ED had slapped three penalties for various contraventions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The agency had found that the foreign investment in Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt Ltd (JIPL), which owns RR, was made in flagrant contravention of FEMA.
RR had received several show cause notices in April 2011 from the ED for “severe irregularities in foreign investment”. ED had found that the foreign investment in JIPL was made much prior to its incorporation and funds were remitted in an irregular manner and shares were sought to be issued in contravention of FEMA.
The adjudicating authority had confirmed the ED findings and held that JIPL, its directors and foreign investors committed contraventions under FEMA. Accordingly, three penalties — Rs.50 crore on JIPL and its directors; Rs.34 crore on Mauritius-based EM Sporting Holding and its directors, including Manoj Badale and Suresh Chellaram; and Rs.14.5 crore on United Kingdom-based ND Investments and its directors — were imposed.
