A cricketing scandal in India looked set to turn into a full-blown political crisis on Friday as senior opposition political figures sought to exploit what they said was ministers’ “misuse of power” before a parliamentary vote this week.
The main opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), called on two government ministers to resign following allegations of conflicts of interest and demanded an independent parliamentary investigation. The parliamentary session was briefly suspended amid rowdy scenes.
The scandal, which revolves around alleged tax evasion, possible betting and misuse of political influence in the multibillion dollar Indian Premier League (IPL), has already claimed one minister who was forced to give up his post when it became known that a close female friend had a stake in a newly-created team.
“A lot of people, including people in the government, are neck deep in this scam. [The] IPL has turned out to be a huge scam. I think the worst ever, the biggest ever in this country,” said Yashwant Sinha, a BJP member of parliament.
Sharad Yadav, from a smaller opposition party, called the IPL a “den of thieves.” Lalit Modi, the flamboyant chief executive of the IPL, was questioned for several hours by investigators from tax and foreign exchange authorities today. Modi denies all wrongdoing and has said he is happy to co-operate with any inquiries.
However, the position of the controversial businessman and sports administrator, who is credited with creating a tournament now estimated to be worth more than £2.6 billion (US$4 billion), is increasingly fragile. Modi, 46, is expected to be told to resign at a meeting of Indian cricketing authorities tomorrow.
An Indian magazine claimed that phone conversations between Modi and Sharad Pawar, the agriculture minister and Modi’s main protector and sponsor, had been tapped by intelligence agents on the orders of the government.
Outlook said that the operation was one of many carried out in recent years against senior politicians, which sparked outrage from politicians and journalists.
The offices of a series of IPL teams, many of which are owned by Bollywood stars and corporate tycoons, have been raided by tax authorities in recent days, leading commentators to compare the scandal with the last such affair in Indian cricket: the match-fixing scandal of 2000.
Pawar is among those targeted by the opposition. A former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and a key political ally of the ruling Congress party, he is accused of improperly using his office to influence bids for IPL contracts, a charge he denies.
A second minister is accused of diverting a passenger plane from the national carrier Air India for use by IPL players.
India has been transfixed by the affair, which has dominated headlines all week and put the government of Manmohan Singh on the defensive, days ahead of a parliamentary confidence motion over high fuel prices. Though the coalition government, elected last year, is expected by analysts to survive as few politicians currently want to see a new election, Singh has looked out of touch.
Harish Khare, political editor of The Hindu newspaper said any damage the scandal could cause to the government was limited.
“The IPL is a private enterprise that is having some doubtful moments. The government still have the numbers [in parliament],” Khare said.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS