New Delhi, April 15: The Kochi conundrum turned more confounding on Wednesday after Shailendra Gaikwad, CEO, Rendezvous Sports World, charged Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi with offering him a $50 million bribe to withdraw the franchise.
“Modi was upset when Rendezvous Sports World won the bid for the Kochi team. After we won, Modi offered us a $50 million bribe to back out,” Gaikwad said, adding that the motive behind maligning Shashi Tharoor was to get him out of office, which could have scared away investors, leading to a total collapse of the Kochi consortium.
“Since we are due to give only Rs150 crore to the IPL for the team this year, Sunanda’s share comes to less than Rs4 crore, which is not much considering the amount of effort she is expected to put in,” Gaikwad said. “Sunanda is expected to get us good branding, franshise and advertisements. The equity is in lieu of her salary, an arrangement proposed by her.”
According to a rough calculation, she is expected to bring the franchise business worth Rs20-30 crore in the first year itself and is unlikely to get any returns for the first three years.
“This is not free equity. Our company doesn’t have the money, so soft shares were offered. Our partnerships and stakes are all transparent and all documents have been provided as asked by the IPL,” said Gaikwad.
Rendezvous Sports alleged that Modi had put Gaikwad in an uncomfortable position by asking personal details of Pushkar instead of going into her professional details.
“At 12:30 in the night, Modi asks me who is Sunanda? How did I meet her? When did I meet her? And all other details that I do not need to describe but can be understood. This despite the fact that all details about Sunanda, her PAN card, passport number, bank details and relevant papers were attached in the file submitted before bidding. Why did Sunanda draw so much attention in the list and not other women?” Gaikwad wondered.
While Sunanda has reportedly clarified to a news agency that she is “not a proxy for Tharoor”, another member, Mumbai-based Pooja Gulati, also issued a statement that her husband Sushen Jhingan, a senior executive with a multinational bank, had no role to play in Team Kochi.
Gulati, who has been assigned to handle branding and the media as a director for the company, said: “I am an independent businesswoman and my husband has nothing to do with this.”
Meanwhile, it is learnt that Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked defence minister AK Antony to investigate Tharoor’s role in the episode.
Sunanda clarifies but doubts exists ?
SUNANDA Pushkar, the woman whose “free equity” in the Kochi IPL franchise triggered the political storm over Shashi Tharoor, claimed in an interview with the Indo- Asian News Service on Wednesday that she’s a woman with her “own business interests” and “substantial” assets. Her grandstanding, though, has raised more questions than she may have bargained for. She’s from a middle-class family that doesn’t have important connections. Her father, a retired Lt- Colonel, and his four brothers owned agricultural land and orchards, which they sold when the rise of militancy in Sopore made them abandon their village, Bomai, for the safer sanctuary of Jammu.
And she has been holding mid-level positions in a string of companies. At present, she’s a sales manager with TECOM, a subsidiary of Dubai Holdings that is investing in commercial real estate in the knowledge sector. Pushkar’s regular career graph, in normal circumstances, would not have qualified her for an invitation from Rendezvous Sports World, the business consortium behind the Kochi IPL team bid, to “associate myself with them as a consultant in their various sporting activities and particularly in their potential bid to acquire the franchise.” What did Rendezvous expect a midlevel business executive based in Dubai to bring to the table?
Sources based in Dubai say Pushkar owns an apartment in an Indian ghetto in Al Karama, the most densely populated part of the Emirate, which is famous for shops selling rip-offs. It is also the neighbourhood where Sharad Shetty, who looked after Dawood Ibrahim’s betting and drug smuggling business, was shot 20 times, allegedly by Chhota Rajan’s hitmen, at the popular India Club in 2003. This isn’t the kind of address you’d normally associate with a person who is given “free equity” worth Rs 75 crore in lieu of assisting Rendezvous “in the areas of fund-raising and networking”. She wasn’t representing TECOM, so what were the Rendezvous promoters seeking from her? The consortium could have hired the services of a professional public relations company for much less money. According to the chatter in Dubai’s high society, Pushkar and Tharoor were introduced to each other by Sunny Varkey, a Padma Shri awardee and founder-chairman of GEMS Education, the Emirate’s largest operator of schools.
Pushkar, despite her mid-level management position, is a familiar figure on the cocktail circuit and Dubai Fashion Week, and she’s popular in this set as ‘Sue’. She features quite regularly on Masala.com, a Dubai-based website that dishes out fashion and celebrity news. Even her Facebook profile picture is from a party covered by Masala.com. In that photo, she is posing with Delhi’s Bal Bharati Air Force School alumnus Sachin Singal, a top honcho at the Channel 2 media group. The occasion was a pre-Christmas party thrown by Padma and Richard Coram, who are the owners of the entertainment and events company, The Talent Brokers. She’s the Dubai equivalent of a Page 3 person, but does that alone qualify her for the largesse handed out to her by Rendezvous? “I should stress that I have accepted no salary or expenses and am conscious that the equity remains only on paper for the foreseeable future,” Pushkar says. But Rs 75 crore, even if it’s a promise, seems a bit too much for the services that any PR or event management company can render at a fraction of that amount.
Yes Boss ?
WHEN Shashi Tharoor’s officer of special duty (OSD), Jacob Joseph, declared that the minister had got a death threat from the Dawood Ibrahim gang, the spotlight was back on the 29-year-old who’s as Twitter-happy as his boss and has the reputation of being a motormouth. He is also seen at a respectable distance from Tharoor , who went to the same college as him, St Stephen’s,whenever he is with Sunanda Pushkar.
Jacob, who called IPL commissioner Lalit Modi a drug peddler, was present in Chennai last month during the bidding for the Kochi IPL team. His presence during the bidding process had raised eyebrows. Why was the OSD of the junior minister present at a purely commercial exercise where neither national interest, nor any constituency matter was at stake?
Speaking Jacob said: “Tharoor is in this purely for the love of Kerala and the love of cricket.” Jacob had rubbished media reports suggesting an overseas connection in the bid — especially from the Gulf. “He is backing businessmen from Kerala, who are either based in the state or elsewhere in the country,” Joseph said. What he did not mention then was that the consortium that had the minister’s blessings — Rendezvous Sports World — consisted almost entirely of Gujarati businessmen based in Mumbai. And the only Kerala link — Vivek Venugopal of the Elite Group family — had a mere one per cent stake. A Tharoor loyalist who organised his Lok Sabha campaign in Thiruvananthapuram, Jacob has business interests in the Gulf (he owns a company that publishes trade magazines) and his wife lives in Dubai.
Modi interview …..
There is a lot of heat on you because of the Rendezvous issue.
I don’t feel any heat. As commissioner of the IPL, I’m expected to be straightforward and neutral. I’ve discharged my duties in keeping with those principles. I did not favour anyone.
Why did you disclose the names of the Kochi team owners?
Because many people in the consortium itself were not aware of who owned the side.
Why did you not disclose the names of other franchises?
They are in public domain. If required, I will disclose them.
Some people have alleged that you have a stake in Rajasthan Royals.
I have nothing to hide. Many people have inquired into this and found nothing. Of all the teams, I’ve punished Royals the most. In the first year, I punished them for not spending enough on players. In the second, we sent back their key bowler Kamran Khan. This year we took action against Ravindra Jadeja. I’ve not shown any favouritism towards that team.
But your colleagues seem upset.
I don’t know about that. I will call a governing council meeting after the IPL is over and we will discuss everything. I will clarify any questions they have. This [chairmanship of IPL] is an honorary post that I’ve been holding for three years and I’ve worked without any selfish motives. I’ve brought in about Rs40,000 crore into the Board’s [BCCI’s] coffers. My achievements as an administrator speak for themselves.
Some have called you arrogant and a drug addict.
I’m used to hearing that. People are raking up things that happened 25 years ago. There is nothing to hide. I don’t run away from my past. I believe in performance and straightforwardness and if you interpret that as arrogance, so be it.
What about the franchise owners? Are they supporting you?
Why don’t you find that out? People like Mukesh Ambani, Vijay Mallya, Shah Rukh Khan, Bomidala (Srinivas), Ness Wadia, Preity, Juhi (Chawla) and Jay (Mehta) have taken the plunge [put money in IPL] because they trust my word. I’m happy that we have delivered a world-class league for investors and the public. Nine out of 10 franchises are with me.
What about the governing council meeting? Do you fear for your position?
I don’t. As I said, this is an honorary post and I have given all my time and energy to it. I sincerely think I have done my best. If some people think differently, so be it. I have no issues. I don’t fear for my position at all.
Modi son-in law Intrests
Global Cricket Ventures (GCV), which has bagged digital and mobile rights for the IPL and the Champions Trophy until 2017, is linked to the son-in-law of IPL chairman Lalit Modi, Gaurav Burman, raising questions about the business interests of Modi’s relatives in IPL, now a Rs 15,000-crore commercial empire.
Gaurav, the brother of Mohit Burman of Dabur, a co-owner of Kings XI Punjab, is a director in Elephant Capital Invests, a company which has put $10 million in GCV, to own 50% equity in this Mauritius-based company. GCV, an online media and broadcast company, was set up only last year and within a few months snapped up various cricket related digital rights.
The jewel in GCV’s portfolio is IPL for which it’s running its official website, disseminating online match information and putting up pictures, said sources in the Shashi Tharoor camp.
Gaurav Burman does not appear to be just another director of Elephant Capital an impression that Lalit Modi seeks to convey. When Elephant bought into GCV, the media release of November 19, 2009, mentioned only Burmans name as Elephants representative and gave his London phone number for further inquiries. “This investment gives Elephant Capital a stake in an exciting online and broadcast media business…We believe that with the continued success of T20 , the value of these rights will appreciate significantly.”
When contacted, Lalit Modi denied there was any conflict of interest. “The internet rights are with GCV,” he admitted. “But there is no direct link to prove that I have a vested interest in protecting my son-in-law’s interests. What can I do if my son-in-law is a director of a company?”
Apart from Gaurav and Mohit Burman, another Modi relative associated with the IPL is Suresh Chellaram, a Nigeria-based businessman who holds majority shares in Rajasthan Royals. Chellaram is Lalit Modi’s sister-in-laws husband. The Modi camp maintained that the involvement of these three Modi relatives in IPL was a coincidence. “They are all businessmen and they sensed a business opportunity in the IPL,” an associate of Modi said.
Sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) the parent body said that while an agreement with GCV has indeed been reached, its key officials did not know that Modi’s son-in-law was a significant face behind GCV. On his part, Modi maintained that he had nothing to hide. “All IPL officials closely coordinate with the BCCI. I have nothing to hide,” he said.
Dawood THREAT ?
Delhi Police, which is investigating the matter, is learnt to have zeroed in on Hari Nagar where a local number was used to send the SMS. The police is investigating a gym trainer employed with Constitution Club for SMSes sent to Rajya Sabha MPs Masood Madani and Brinda Karat on Tuesday; it suspects the same man may be involved in the Tharoor episode as well.
The SMS was direct if somewhat amateurish. “Lalit Modi se maafi mangne ko bol nahi to jaan se maar denge. IPL ke taar D company se hai (Tell Tharoor to apologize to Modi or else he will be killed. IPL is linked to D-company),” said the message signed by ‘Shakeel’. The police doubted any real link to the mafia but the minister’s security has been stepped up.
With Left on Wednesday joining BJP in demanding the minister’s resignation, Congress carefully considered the fallout as Parliament reconvenes on Thursday for the Budget Session. The matter came up at a meeting at Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s residence in the morning and after the controversy dominated news through the day, Tharoor met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and defence minister A K Antony late in the evening. Congress bosses were clearly keen to assess how “defendable” his role is.
In the US, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he would first examine “all the facts” on his return before deciding on any action. In Delhi, Congress’s chief spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi was equally careful in echoing the same line. The party would also keep in mind reports that two NCP ministers – Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel – also reportedly tried to get the Kochi consortium to back off.