Mumbai:
After questions were raised about why they're not mentioned in ownership documents for the Rajasthan Royals, Shilpa Shetty and husband Raj, along with their co-owners, have said they're legitimate stakeholders in the Jaipur team of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
On Monday, Shashank Manohar, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said that the parentage of the Royals seems uncertain. "We are asking Modi, how can he sign an agreement with A when the bid came from B. Modi made a statement that the entire world knows who the shareholders are but the fact is that not even the Governing Council members know about Rajasthan Royals. I did not find the names of Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra in the papers and they claim to be stakeholders."
An alarmed Shilpa Shetty tweeted on Monday "Woke up & heard on TV that we're not co-owners of RR! There's no doubt Raj is a stake holder & I'm the brand ambassador."
Forty per cent of the Royals franchise is owned by Suresh Chellaram, Modi's wife's brother-in-law. The board says that if shares were transferred to Shilpa and her husband after they invested in the Royals, no transfer fee has been paid.
(Read: Shilpa Shetty tweets allegations untrue)
Here's the fullstatement fromRajasthan Royals:
Rajasthan Royalswould like to clarify certain misconceptions about the franchise, which havebeen raised through the media.
The Rajasthan Royalsfranchise bid was successful, with full compliance of BCCI guidelines, in aprocess conducted with the committee members of BCCI in January 2008. Fulldetails of the consortium bid structure and the way the company would be set upwere contained in the original submission to the BCCI in January 2008. Thestructure has been completely transparent and in accordance with regulatoryguidelines ever since.
The corporatestructure was established in accordance with the details provided in the bidsubmission shortly after the bid. It was not established prior to the bid, aswe obviously did not know if the bid would be successful. Moreover, the timeallotted between the Invitation to Tender (27 December 2007), and the bidsubmission date (23 January 2008), would not have allowed sufficient time toincorporate the intended structure with an Indian entity.
The investors agreedto submit the bid using a consortium, led by UK-based Emerging Media (IPL) Ltd.The other entities in the consortium were disclosed in the bid submissiondocuments.
Subsequently, on 8March 2008, an Indian company Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt Ltd was incorporated, asdetailed in the bid submission. We then executed the franchise agreement on 14April 2008. The ownership of the consortium did not change between the award ofthe bid on 23 January 2008 and the signing of the franchise agreement on 14April 2008.
As part of ourstrategy to broaden our shareholder base, in February 2009 Kuki Investments Ltd(Raj Kundra and Family) acquired an 11.7% stake in EM Sporting HoldingsLimited, the parent company of Jaipur IPL Cricket Pvt Ltd, which was fullydisclosed to the BCCI/IPL.
According to theBCCI/IPL rules, the IPL was entitled to 5% of the increase in the pro-ratavalue of the franchise. In February 2009 the Rajasthan Royals contacted theBCCI to agree the precise definition, to agree the amount that needed to bepaid, and we are still awaiting a response. For absolute clarity the paymenthas been fully accrued for within our accounts.
The currentshareholders of EM Sporting Holdings Limited, who all have multiple businessinterests and independent means, are as follows: Emerging Media (IPL) Ltd(Manoj Badale - 32.4%), Tresco International Ltd (Suresh Chellaram Family -44.2%), Blue Water Estate Ltd (Lachlan Murdoch - 11.7%) and Kuki InvestmentsLtd (Raj Kundra & Family - 11.7%). There are no other shareholders.
In accordance withregulatory filings, we subsequently volunteered to make a full disclosureapplication (in July 2009) through the Government's FIPB (Foreign InvestmentPromotion Board) process. The relevant information submitted in thatapplication, including details of the structure, now appears to be publiclyavailable. Our application was not initially accepted due to a miscommunicationof submission timings. Our subsequent application in January 2010 has not beenrejected. We are well advanced towards fulfilling the procedural steps andadditional information requests necessary to satisfy the FIPB.
Rajasthan Royals havealways conducted themselves with integrity and look forward to co-operatingwith the BCCI to ensure continued public support for the IPL.