The corporate affairs ministry of the Union government today said it was collecting information on all owners of the Indian Premier League teams and doing their due diligence.
"My ministry is merely collecting information that we should have in the normal course of those companies that are franchisee companies," company affairs minister Salman Khurshid told reporters here.
The ministry, he added, is not conducting any probe but is only performing "due diligence" as a lot of questions have been raised publicly about the ownership patterns of the franchises.
"My ministry is not conducting a probe... because a lot of questions are raised publicly... we should do our due diligence," Khurshid said.
The ministry, on Wednesday last, directed the registrar of companies to collect within a week all details on IPL franchises, including the bidding process, sweat equity, memoranda of association, and franchise agreements.
The ministry will try to find out whether the "equity structure [of IPL franchises] is hazy... filings are available. If there is any discrepancy, we will look into it," Khurshid said.
The probe follows the controversy over ownership of the Kochi IPL franchise, where Rendezvous Sports World had given 19% of the 25% stake held by it to Sunanda Pushkar, a close friend of Shashi Tharoor.
Tharoor had to resign as Union minister of state for external affairs in the face of allegations that he misused his position to favour his friend.
The registrar of companies, according to sources, has to give details on 10 franchisees, including Kolkata Knight Riders' owner Red Chillies Entertainment, Mumbai Indians' India Sports Win, Sahara Adventure Sports Group of the Pune team, and Chennai Super Kings owner India Cements.
Following the controversy over ownership of the IPL teams, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) suspended IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi and today appointed Chirayu Amin as the interim chairman.
