{
 "no": 77,
 "id": "case-77",
 "sk": 20100418,
 "year": 2010,
 "date": "18 Apr 2010",
 "cat": "Crony capital (alleged)",
 "sev": "amber",
 "title": "IPL Kochi. A minister, a friend's equity, and a resignation",
 "stamp": "Resigned over a conflict of interest",
 "human": {
  "v": "A public office used, on the allegation, to help a private consortium win a franchise",
  "est": false
 },
 "cost": {
  "v": "Free equity in a bid worth around <b>$330 million</b>, held by someone close to the minister",
  "est": true
 },
 "what": "Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor mentored a consortium that won the Kochi IPL franchise. It emerged that his friend, later his wife, held sweat equity in the company heading the consortium. He resigned on 18 April 2010.",
 "dodge": "The resignation closed the political question and opened none of the others. The tax and enforcement inquiries into the franchise dragged on for years without a conclusion about the minister, and the wider question of how IPL franchises were awarded went to a separate inquiry that produced no accountability for anyone in office.",
 "ministers": [
  {
   "n": "Shashi Tharoor",
   "r": "Minister of State for External Affairs; resigned Apr 2010"
  }
 ],
 "pos": "Tharoor denied any financial interest or impropriety, said the equity was not his and that he had facilitated a bid for his home state without personal gain.",
 "alleg": "A conflict of interest is <em>the allegation; no finding of corruption was made against him</em>, and he returned to public life.",
 "alt": "A declared-interests register for ministers that makes this visible before the bid, not after it.",
 "resignations": [
  {
   "n": "Shashi Tharoor",
   "office": "Union Minister of State for External Affairs",
   "when": "Apr 2010",
   "year": 2010,
   "level": "union",
   "party": "Indian National Congress"
  }
 ],
 "sources": [
  {
   "label": "Business Standard: Kochi IPL row, Tharoor resigns",
   "url": "https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/kochi-ipl-row-shashi-tharoor-resigns-110041800068_1.html",
   "tier": 2
  },
  {
   "label": "Scroll: the $330 million IPL controversy",
   "url": "https://scroll.in/article/654362/330-million-ipl-controversy-continues-to-dog-tharoor",
   "tier": 2
  }
 ],
 "caseUrl": "https://whoisresponsible.xyz/case/case-77/"
}