Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators Act (SAFEMA) Appellate Tribunal has set aside the principal penalties imposed on former IPL chairman Lalit Modi in the 2009 IPL South Africa foreign exchange case, more than 15 years after the investigation began.
Reacting to the verdict, Modi said in a statement posted on X that the tribunal had "rejected the central premise on which the Enforcement Directorate's case against me had been built," calling it the conclusion of "the single most significant legal matter arising from the 2009 South Africa IPL."
The wait was long… but at least I did not bow down to pressure and the TRUTH PREVAILS. The very people who accused me are found GUILTY …. BCCI and has to pay a fine. I now will move on. Enjoy What I Created. It's for the people of India. Now you know the truth about @IPL and… pic.twitter.com/whVbA6ZDnO
— Lalit Kumar Modi (@LalitKModi) July 21, 2026
He said he had acted in good faith and in cricket's interests throughout, thanking his legal team, family and supporters for standing by him through the long-running proceedings.
"The wait was long… but at least I did not bow down to pressure and the TRUTH PREVAILS. The very people who accused me are found GUILTY …. BCCI and has to pay a fine. I now will move on. Enjoy What I Created. It's for the people of India."
The Case Background
The tribunal, comprising Chairman Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Member Rajesh Malhotra, was ruling on appeals against a 31 May 2018 order by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that had penalised the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Modi, N Srinivasan, M P Pandove, the State Bank of India and its former chief manager A K Nazeer Khan over alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
The 2009 edition of the IPL was shifted to South Africa after it clashed with that year's Lok Sabha general election. Investigations into the tournament's foreign remittances began in 2010, with show-cause notices issued under FEMA in 2011 and the ED's penalty order following in 2018.
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Tribunal's Findings
The tribunal held that the foreign remittances central to the ED's case were current account transactions rather than capital account transactions, undercutting the basis of the earlier findings.
It further found that Modi was not responsible for BCCI's statutory FEMA compliance and did not hold the financial authority the ED had alleged, and set aside the penalty imposed on him for delayed repatriation of funds, noting he had already been suspended from his position by the time the money was brought back.
The tribunal also cleared the authorised dealer bank of liability and quashed findings on alleged non-repatriation of "pouring rights" revenue.
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BCCI Penalty Retained
The tribunal did not clear BCCI entirely.
It upheld a Rs 4 crore penalty on the board over a discrepancy between the remitted amount and its recorded books of accounts, and reduced a separate penalty from Rs 4 crore to Rs 1 crore over delayed repatriation of ticket sale proceeds, noting the funds had eventually been returned.
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