Mumbai, July 22 -- An appellate tribunal in New Delhi has set aside a penalty order issued by the Enforcement Directorate against former Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi and some others in a FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) case related to hosting of the 2009 T-20 cricket tournament in South Africa. The appellate tribunal under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators - Forfeiture of Property -Act (SAFEMA), New Delhi, partly allowed the appellants' appeal against a May 31, 2018 order of ED's special director imposing penalties on them for various FEMA contraventions and set aside ED probe's findings and penalties. Debunking ED's main probe plank about the nature of the transactions that led to the alleged FEMA violations, the tribunal in its order said: "We have considered the submissions.and find that if, in a given case, the payment towards the service was made from time to time and that too without budgeting, then, according to the respondent [ED], it would fall in the definition of 'Capital Account Transaction'. We are unable to accept the argument advanced by the respondent [ED]." The 2009 edition of IPL was moved to South Africa in the wake of the general elections in India. Welcoming the order, Lalit Modi, in a statement on Tuesday said: "...The Tribunal has rejected the central premise on which the ED's case against me had been built ...This marks the conclusion of what has been the single most significant legal matter arising from the 2009 South Africa IPL."...