New Delhi:
Parliament is likely to witness another Commonwealth-Games-related storm on Monday. The Opposition has already demonstrated that it will again unite to take on the UPA government on the alleged Commonwealth Games scam, and fresh media reports on Suresh Kalmadi have provided more fodder.
A report in the newspaper Times of India claims that after his earlier denial, there is evidence now to prove that CWG Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi himself cleared payments to UK-based firm AM Films.
The newspaper report alleges that more emails and faxed documents unearthed point towards the involvement of Kalmadi, suggesting that he was aware of all payments made to the UK-based firm AM films and its sister concern AM Car and Van Hire, run by businessman Ashish Patel.
(Read: Who is Ashish Patel?)AM Films and AM Car and Van Hire received 247,000 pounds for what Ashish Patel and CWG say was work done for the Queen's Baton ceremony in London last year. There was no written contract or tender process. This was unearthed recently causing huge embarrassment to the CWG.
The report quotes an email dated October 24, 2009, on payments and with Kalmadi's signature on it, saying "why so late...now there is no choice." Publicly, Kalmadi claimed he didn't know about the entire dealings with AM Films when the scandal first broke.
Kalmadi had said that there was no written contract with AM Films because things were done at the last minute and also that the Indian High Commission in UK had recommended the Britain-based company. The High Commission has vociferously denied making such a recommendation.
The Organising Committee general secretary Lalit Bhanot is meeting Suresh Kalmadi at his residence in Delhi right now.