Messi visit row: Keralam’s UDF govt finalises terms of reference for SIT probe into LDF’s botched move

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government has fixed the terms of reference for a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the allegations of entrenched service tax fraud, corruption, suspected money-laundering, abuse of constitutional office and nepotism bedevilling the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s “botched-up” attempt to bring the 2022 FIFA World Cup-winning Argentina team and its former iconic captain, Lionel Messi, for a friendly match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi in August 2025. 

The Home Department had on Thursday constituted an SIT, headed by Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, P. Vijayan, to conduct a comprehensive probe into the previous government’s alleged collaboration with a private sponsor, a television news broadcaster, to bring the project, ostensibly aimed at giving a leg-up to Keralam’s flagging sporting sector, to fruitition on the cusp of the 2026 Assembly polls. 

Officials said Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, based on recommendations submitted by the Director General of Prosecution, has signed off on the SIT’s remit to investigate the entire transaction from its inception in 2024. 

They said the SIT would focus on the legality of the administrative process that led to the selection of the sponsor for the scheme, allegedly without open tendering or public solicitation of expressions of interest from other competitors. 

They said the SIT’s remit also includes collection of information about a US-based financial entity, which allegedly wire-transferred Rs 126 crores to the Argentina Football Association (AFA) at the sponsoring firm’s “behest” in 2025, inevitably triggering a “hitherto unredeemed” service tax obligation of Rs 22.68 crores to the State exchequer. (The sponsor has taken the legal defence that it owed the government no tax as the event did not take place.)

Officials said the SIT’s mandate includes investigating the suspected corruption angle in the scheme, including whether the previous dispensation accorded the sponsoring firm any undue favour or pecuniary advantage by leveraging the political heft of the previous administration, thereby causing a corresponding loss to the State’s exchequer. 

The SIT’s scope includes examining foreign visits, communications, negotiations and commitments made by the previous dispensation, if any, as well as allied government orders, permissions, concessions, waivers and use of public assets, including “handing over” the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium ostensibly for renovation ahead of the Argentina team’s supposed visit.

Officials said any disclosure of a cognisable offence could pave the way for a potential referral to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to register a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), consequently opening the door for an anti-money laundering enquiry by the Enforcement Directorate or a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe. 

They said the SIT would also investigate the project’s source of funds, amounts allegedly collected by the sponsoring firm instead of advertisement rights, and financial transactions between the sponsor and foreign entities.