Lalit Modi will head family business

Putting to rest persistent reports about strained — even estranged — relations between himself and his son Lalit Modi, industrialist K K Modi sprang to his son's defence on Monday and declared that the 46-year-old would succeed him as head of the Rs 3,500-crore group's flagship company, Godfrey Phillips India (GPI), the makers of Marlboro, Four Square and Red & White cigarettes.

"Lalit is the seniormost member of the K K Modi family, he is meant to take over the business," the 73-year patriarch told TOI. Lalit is, at present, an executive director in GPI. Modi senior, however, did not have a date in mind for the succession.It's clear that K K Modi is putting his weight behind his son, who has dominated headlines for the past few weeks, mostly for the wrong reasons.

"Lalit is the most brilliant and intelligent member of the family and has created something no one has been able to do so far," he said referring to the IPL. "I only wish he had done it for the K K Modi group."

IPL:Billion-dollar deal papers go missing

This isn't just another missing document. Among the scores of papers that have allegedly gone missing from the BCCI headquarters here, are the papers relating to the highly controversial $1.64 billion TV rights contract between BCCI, Multi-Screen Media (MSM) and World Sports Group (WSG) involving a suspect "facilitation" fee of $80 million. They are not with BCCI, nor apparently with suspended IPL chief Lalit Modi.

The contract deals with IPL TV rights for nine years from 2009 onwards that were renegotiated after the original deal signed in 2008 for $1.02 billion was terminated. Papers of such a huge contract are normally kept with care for future reference so that it is observed by the parties concerned in letter and spirit.Income-tax authorities are looking for these papers, and the BCCI is flabbergasted by their absence. The suspended IPL chief is understood to have been the key person who negotiated this tripartite deal between BCCI and MSM — a Sony subsidy — and WSG (Mauritius).

BCCI sources said the papers were simply not there and admitted that the deal was very suspicious as after the 2008 contract was cancelled, the rights were parked with WSG (Mauritius) for a few days before being given back to MSM. In a recent interaction with BCCI, a senior Sony representative said MSM had been threatened with loss of telecast rights.
BCCI members said that along with the WSG-MSM contract, papers related to digital, image rights awarded to Global Cricket Ventures — a firm held by Elephant Capital where Modi's step son-in-law Gaurav Burman has a stake with his brother — are also untraceable.

As for the broadcast deal, the facilitation fee of $80 million which MSM had agreed to pay WSG translates into Rs 425 crore. Out of this, Rs 125 crore has been paid, and the remaining amount was to be paid over the next seven years. The decision to park rights with a company in a tax haven is seen as a bid to facilitate payments in a manner where tracing the end beneficiaries would be near impossible.