Real estate group, Shree Naman Group of Developers, pulled out of the upcoming Mumbai Twenty20 league, citing inability to submit the bank guarantee in the wake of the Nirav Modi-PNB scam, Times of India reported on Tuesday.
The long-drawn process in submitting a guarantee from the bank led to the company’s withdrawal from the league, whose brand ambassador is batting legend Sachin Tendulkar.
“As per the rules of the league, all the owners are supposed to submit a bank guarantee which is five times the value of the bid amount of the team which they’ve bought. Shree Naman Group will also have to cough up Rs 1 crore caution money, which is forfeited if you cancel your bid at this stage,” an official representing the Mumbai Cricket Association was quoted as saying.
The league will be staged at the Wankhede Stadium and will feature six teams – Mumbai North, Mumbai North-West, Mumbai North-East, Mumbai North-Central, Mumbai South-Central, and Mumbai South. MCA chief Ashish Shelar had earlier confirmed that over 1,500 players from the region had registered to be participants of the league.
“Yes, the Naman group wrote a letter to Probability Sports (the company formed by IIFL and Wizcraft to run the league) CEO Kadar Makanil, informing of their decision to back out from the league due to difficulty in arranging the bank guarantee,” the official added.
“Post the Nirav Modi-PNB scam, the banks have become much stricter in these cases. Earlier, the bank guarantee could be arranged at the managerial-level, but now, one has to contact the head office of a bank, which takes around a month. It’s a sensible decision on the group’s part to inform us right now, as we can give that team to the next-highest bidder after due diligence.”
“We’ve still given them (the Shree Naman Group) time till Tuesday to sort out their issues, but it looks unlikely,” he added.
The tournament played between March 11-21, and will clash with the Twenty20 International tri-series featuring India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.