India FM stumped over visa 'help' to tainted cricket boss

(MENAFN- Arab News) The opposition demanded the resignation of Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj over her decision to help corruption-hit former cricket boss Lalit Modi gain emergency travel papers in Britain despite the red alert issued by the government.

Defending her move, Swaraj said she had backed Modi's request last July for travel documents from the British government on "humanitarian" grounds so that he could accompany his wife who needed surgery for cancer in Portugal.

Indian authorities revoked Modi's Indian passport while he was in the UK in 2010 after he became embroiled in false accounting and other corruption allegations in the multi-million dollar Indian Premier League.

Swaraj said she told Britain's High Commissioner to India James Bevan along with Indian-origin Labour UK MP Keith Vaz that granting Modi the documents would not harm the nations' bilateral relations.

"I genuinely believe that in a situation such as this, giving emergency travel documents to an Indian citizen cannot and should not spoil relations between the two countries," she said in a series of tweets.

"It is very unfortunate that the foreign minister of the country is helping an enforcement directorate offender. Lalit Modi is close to a number of BJP leaders, including the chief minister of Rajasthan " She hoodwinked the administration, and (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi is silent on the matter," Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed said.

He added: "It is a serious matter and we think if there is any propriety, Modi himself will demand Swaraj's resignation."

Lalit Modi was removed as IPL chairman in 2010 and later banned for life from holding any positions in the sport by the powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Modi in 2008 founded the glamorous IPL Twenty20 tournament, but it was soon dogged by allegations of corporate corruption, money laundering and tax evasion, as well as secret deals to hide teams' real owners.

Modi, who now lives in London, has consistently denied all accusations against him and an Indian court ruled last August that his passport should be restored. But he is unlikely to return to India where he could face charges.

According to Britain's Sunday Times newspaper, Vaz used Swaraj's name to put pressure on the UK's top immigration official to grant British travel papers to Modi.

BJP president Amit Shah sought to stamp out a media storm over the
controversy, saying the party was standing behind her.