India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued notices to Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and others in connection with alleged violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema), resulting in a loss of Rs73.6 crore (Rs730 million) foreign exchange related to the IPL cricket league, officials said.
The actor has been asked to be present before the adjudicating authority of the case in Mumbai on August 23, they said.
The accused are issued notices by the authority so that they can participate in the legal hearing and subsequent final decision of the case which, if proven guilty, can lead to up to three times of the penalty on the actual amount of loss.
They said the notice has also been issued against few others involved in the case including Khan, his wife Gauri, actor-friend Juhi Chawla and Knight Riders Sports Private Limited (KRSPL), which owns the Indian Premier League (IPL) team of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
The show cause notice had been issued for the sale of some shares of KRSPL to a Mauritius-based firm at a cost lower than their “actual value”, resulting in loss of foreign exchange.
While Gauri is a director of KRSPL, Khan and Chawla are the owners of the IPL team KKR.
The case pertains to 2008-09 when the ED first began investigation against the IPL franchise and its owners.
Khan and others have been questioned by the ED multiple times in this case and the actor’s statement was also recorded under FEMA provisions.
Khan’s company Red Chillies Enterprises Private Limited (RCEPL), the agency had said, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Red Chillies International Limited based overseas in Bermuda and is co-owned by Gauri.
