Lalit Modi set to return to India after 16 years, says ‘I am happy’

Former IPL Chairman Lalit Modi on Wednesday said that he will soon return to India after 16 years.

"I'm looking forward to coming back to India. I will come back probably end of this year or early next year," said Lalit in a statement.

The statement has come a day after a tribunal has set aside a penalty order issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against Lalit in a case related to the violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (Fema, 1999), which was rooted in the hosting of Indian Premier League's 2009 edition in South Africa.

To organise the tournament in South Africa, the BCCI moved founds to South Africa and the ED considered such movement a violation of Fema. The ED alleged that they moved abroad around Rs 243 crore without the approval of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The ED issued show cause notices in 2011 and then slapped penalty orders in 2018 against Modi and some former BCCI executives. The appellate tribunal in the matter on Tuesday set aside ED's penalty orders.

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"I'm really happy with the verdict yesterday. It's really been a great day. Sixteen years I have fought and whatever I have been saying to the media and to everybody has finally emerged as the truth. I'm really happy that the tribunal has ruled in my favour. I was only concerned with the well-being of the IPL and nothing and nothing at all. That is the most dear to me. Now that chapter is behind me," Lalit said after the ruling.

After the BCCI and ED began proceedings against him, Lalit moved to London in 2013 and he has lived there for the past 13 years.