ED to file money-laundering case over the Messi visit that never was

The Enforcement Directorate's Kochi unit is set to register an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act over financial transactions worth crores of rupees connected to the aborted bid to bring Lionel Messi and the Argentina football team to Kerala. The move follows revelations about money allegedly routed abroad for the proposed visit, which had generated enormous excitement among Kerala's football-mad fans but collapsed without Messi ever setting foot in the state. Investigators are examining whether foreign-exchange rules were violated in remittances of around ₹126 crore to overseas sports-management companies, and whether the funds were moved through shell companies or hawala channels — allegations that remain unproven. The proposed visit was spearheaded by Reporter TV (Reporter Broadcasting Corporation), working in association with the state government. Organisers claimed crores had been invested in Kochi's Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and that large sums had been paid to the Argentine Football Association for a friendly against Australia scheduled for November 17. In December 2025, Messi finally arrived in India — but for the GOAT Tour, with Kerala never part of the itinerary. The Kerala government, led by Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan, has already constituted a Special Investigation Team after a preliminary enquiry found findings "sufficiently serious" to warrant a full probe. In September, the SIT carried out coordinated pre-dawn searches at the Reporter TV office in Kochi, the office of a company called GOTAD, the flats of brothers Anto Augustin and Josekutty Augustin in Kochi, and their ancestral home in Wayanad. An FIR at Kalamassery police station names Reporter Broadcasting Company and Anto Augustin as accused in charges of cheating, fraud and criminal conspiracy. The searches triggered a political firestorm. Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan accused the police of intimidating journalists, alleging that personnel entered the newsroom in the early hours, seized mobile phones and kept staff under pressure for nearly 90 minutes — an assault on press freedom, he said. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala countered that the searches were conducted under a valid magistrate's warrant and that "necessary evidence" had been obtained. Kerala Sports Minister O. J. Janeesh has said the probe will also examine whether any Sports Department officials had involvement or vested interests in the project, which was announced during the previous Pinarayi Vijayan government's tenure. The ED, which had already opened a separate FEMA probe into the ₹126 crore remittance, has collected banking records and agreements and sought documents from the GST and Sports departments. One report, citing investigators, flagged ₹22.68 crore in unpaid Integrated GST linked to a private sponsor's foreign money transfers, alongside other suspicious fund transfers exceeding ₹200 crore. No formal contract, investigators say, has yet been produced to justify where the money went. For now, the ECIR will give the Enforcement Directorate sharper teeth — the power to attach assets and interrogate under PMLA — in a case that Kerala's own Home Minister has called the biggest fraud of the previous government's tenure committed in the name of bringing Messi to Kerala.