UK newspaper The Times reports that Clarke made the claims in a letter to Shashank Manohar, the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Clarke acted after being forwarded minutes of a meeting on March 31 between the county teams and Modi by Yorkshire chairman Colin Graves.
IMG set up the meeting between Modi and the counties, and has denied any wrongdoing.
“It was stated by IMG and acknowledged by all present prior to this theoretical discussion that the sovereignty and processes of the ECB must at all times be respected as must the relevant rules of all other official bodies including ICC,” it said in a statement.
“IMG has not been involved in any plans of the kind suggested in the quotes attributed to Mr. Clarke,” it said in a statement.
“Representatives of certain ECB member counties requested a meeting with Mr. Lalit Modi through IMG. An informal lunch meeting subsequently took place on 31st March 2010 in Delhi and was attended by IMG executives.
“The matters discussed at the lunch included a general conversation about the challenges currently facing English cricket and a theoretical discussion about the possible modelling and commercial potential of an English twenty20 cricket competition.
“As a matter of formality it was stated by IMG and acknowledged by all present prior to this theoretical discussion that the sovereignty and processes of the ECB must at all times be respected as must the relevant rules of all other official cricket bodies including the ICC. Any suggestion otherwise is baseless, untrue and defamatory. “
