Cricket: Shahrukh questioned over KKR’s finances

IPL team’s co-owner quizzed for hours, asked about club’s shareholding.

MUMBAI: The co-owner of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Kolkata Knight Riders, actor Shahrukh Khan, has been quizzed as part of a probe into the team’s finances.

Khan spent seven hours last weekend answering questions at the Mumbai offices of the Directorate of Enforcement.

The Directorate of Enforce-ment is part of India’s finance ministry and is responsible for looking into claims of money laundering and infringements of overseas investment laws.

Indian media has quoted unnamed sources as saying that investigators were looking into alleged irregularities in holding of the 2009 tournament, which was hosted by South Africa because of security concerns in India.

According to The Indian Express, Khan was asked about his majority shareholding in the club and the franchise deal between Knight Riders Sports Private Limited and the sport’s governing body, the Board for Control of Cricket in India.

He was also asked to explain the allocation of shares in the club to a Mauritius-based company, the daily added.

The probe comes after claims of foreign exchange violations, corporate corruption, tax evasion and money laundering, as well as secret deals to hide teams’ real owners and even links to India’s criminal underworld.

IPL founder Lalit Modi was ousted from running the lucrative tournament in 2010 over graft allegations. He denies the claims.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th,  2011.