By IANS,
New Delhi : Demanding a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the Indian Premier League (IPL) controversy, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Tuesday asked why IPL had not paid income tax for the past two years on “phenomenal earnings running into thousands of crores of rupees”.
CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechury said the income tax department should urgently probe issues like why the IPL had not filed tax returns for two years and why it was exempted from paying entertainment tax.
The entire IPL issue should be probed under the Prevention of Corruption Act and a JPC should be set up, like the one set up to investigate the stock market scam, he told reporters here.
Referring to former minister of state for foreign affairs Shashi Tharoor’s demand for a thorough probe into the allegations against him, Yechury said Tharoor’s resignation was not the end of the matter.
“IPL has nothing to do with cricket. It is abusing the Indian people’s affection and fondness for cricket to mount a very huge commercial operation through dubious means,” he said.
The IPL is nothing else but a scandalous exposure of crony capitalism, Yechury said referring to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement that “India cannot afford crony capitalism”.
He alleged that the money was coming through the Mauritius route.
“We have been asking for a review of the double taxation avoidance treaty with that country for a long time. How dubious money is being legalised through this route needs to be investigated,” he said.