Thiruvananthapuram: The sports department has handed over its inquiry report into the previous LDF govt’s efforts to bring footballer Lionel Messi and the Argentina football team to the state to chief minister V D Satheesan for further action. The report, which flags serious procedural and financial lapses, has recommended examination by Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), the enforcement directorate (ED), income tax department, special investigation team and other agencies.Sports minister O J Janeesh said the report, prepared by sports secretary N Prasanth, required further investigation and added that govt would take an appropriate decision.A key finding is that the document submitted by the Argentine Football Association (AFA) to the state govt was neither a formal commitment nor a legally binding assurance confirming the event, but a brochure and commercial requirements sheet. The report says treating it as final confirmation was erroneous.It also says the govt file contained no final AFA commitment, no agreement securing the participation of prominent players including Messi and no Fifa/AIFF match approval. Despite this, an official communication to Centre represented that Argentina’s official World Cup squad would visit Kerala.Former sports minister V Abdurahiman had announced that Messi and the Argentina team would be brought to Kerala and he travelled to Spain to meet AFA officials. Sponsors later claimed that Rs 126 crore was spent on bringing Messi to Kerala. The issue resurfaced amid controversy over GST payment, following which the sports minister ordered the inquiry.The report says mandatory requirements including a central govt NOC, detailed project report, finance department concurrence, law department scrutiny and cabinet approval were not completed. The selection of the sponsor is also questioned, with the report saying there was no open selection, valuation of commercial rights, verification of the company’s financial capacity or provision guaranteeing public revenue from sponsorship, broadcasting, merchandising and gate receipts.The report flags a $15-million foreign remittance through TourProdEnter LLC and recommends scrutiny of its source, money trail, beneficial ownership and FEMA compliance.It also terms the handing over of Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, Kaloor, to the private sponsor a serious lapse, saying it was done without final match confirmation, Fifa/AIFF registration, law and finance approvals, insurance or bank guarantees.It also calls for VACB or SIT scrutiny of the selection of Reporter Broadcasting Corporation (RBC) as the sponsor, ministerial communications, alleged concessions to RBC and the use of the stadium. Significantly, the report states that the file contains no agreement for Messi or the Argentina team to visit Kerala. It recommends that the relevant records also be examined by the ED, income tax department and corporate regulatory or investigative agencies for possible financial, tax, foreign-exchange and corporate-law violations.The report finally recommends a departmental inquiry to fix individual responsibility and referral of the matter to competent investigative agencies for examination of its criminal, financial and regulatory aspects.Abdurahiman said the previous govt had followed all prescribed procedures in its efforts to bring Argentina to Kerala, and that the state govt incurred no financial loss or liability in the process. He said the agreement for the proposed match was between AFA and the private sponsor, with the sponsor bearing all financial obligations, and denied allegations that the govt had given the sponsor any rights over the Kaloor stadium.
