The affairs of the Indian Premier League have become the subject of a government inquiry in the country amid parliamentary allegations of money-laundering through the competition.

Transcripts of a debate in the Indian parliament’s lower house, the Lok Sabha, today show that Pranab Mukherjee, India’s finance minister, confirmed that an inquest into cricket’s richest competition is under way.

“The concerned department has already started the investigation process,” said Mukherjee. “I can assure the honourable members that all aspects of IPL including its source of funding, from where the funds were routed, how they have been invested etc, are being looked into and the appropriate action as per law will be taken. No guilty or wrongdoers will be spared.”

Last Thursday IPL offices were raided by officials from the income-tax department. They reportedly spent seven hours in the building questioning IPL staff including the tournament commissioner, Lalit Modi, who was uncontactable by the Guardian today but who made a statement through Indian media to deny allegations of any wrongdoing.

A government junior minister, Shashi Tharoor, resigned yesterday over claims an associate was handed equity in the new franchise in Kochi. Opposition parliamentarians now allege the IPL is being used to perpetrate serious financial crime.

“The minister’s resignation is not the issue,” said the leader of the Communist Party of India, Gurudas Dasgupta, during parliamentary debate. “The issue is the IPL. [The] issue is laundering of money.”

There were widespread allegations to that effect in parliament today. Lalu Prasad Yadav, once a railways minister, told the lower house that stakeholders in the tournament “get money from Swiss banks and make it white money here”.

Some believe that the links between the political elite and the IPL run deep. “Six months ago claims were being made about huge sums of money coming into the IPL and the government has done nothing at the time,” Brinda Karat, a member of India’s upper house, told the Guardian. “Certainly there are questions about where this money is coming from and the government has to answer them. I don’t believe the current investigation will get those answers.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/apr/19/indian-premier-league-money-laundering-allegations