File Photo: Former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi (Agence France-Presse)
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, on a nine-day visit to the US, chose to largely stay mum on the controversy surrounding Lalit Modi raging back home but said the the former IPL chief's Rs 11 crore transaction with Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's son and BJP Lawmaker Dushyant Singh was a "commercial" one.
"I do not want to comment on him (Lalit Modi), but it's a commercial transaction between two individuals," Mr Jaitley said at a press conference in Washington yesterday in response to a question.
The Minister was asked: "What is the government doing on the transaction of Rs 11 crore between Lalit Modi and Dushyant Singh?"
Mr Jaitley responded: "How the government could be concerned with a several year old loan transaction between... which is a commercial loan transaction by check with all banking approvals in a declared loan transaction."
Mr Singh has been under attack over media reports that his company received Rs 11.63 crore in investments from Mr Modi in 2008.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Ms Raje have been criticised for allegedly helping Lalit Modi in procuring travel documents in the UK, a country which he has made his home to avoid legal processes in India.
Lalit Modi, 49, travelled to London in 2010 after the Indian Premier League (IPL) became embroiled in allegations of match-fixing and illegal betting.