New Delhi:
As the allegations of corruption get larger and louder for those involved with the Commonwealth Games, the trouble-shooting for Suresh Kalmadi is becoming tougher.
Kalmadi, the Chairman of the Organising Committee, has denied that his team has indulged in financial or other irregularities. But today brought another dent to the claim that Team Kalmadi has played completely by the book. (
Read: Corruption scandal hits CWG, organisers deny charges)
The biggest challenge for Kalmadi so far has been explaining why UK-based firms, AM Films and its sister-concern, AM Cars, were paid nearly 200,000 pounds without a contract in place.
(Read: CWG: UK firm AM Films dubious? NDTV accesses documents)Kalmadi claimed last week that the firm was recommended by the Indian High Commission in UK; he produced, as evidence, a letter from the High Commission that cleared AM Cars as an approved vendor for transportation. (
Read: Kalmadi denies corruption charges, takes on Indian High Commission in London)
But the Foreign Ministry has today denied that. At a meeting with Kalmadi today, Foreign Minister SM Krishna reportedly provided another version of the letter which makes no reference to AM, or its owner, Ashish Patel. (
Read: Kalmadi calls emergency meet)
Kalmadi's copy of the letter ends with "The approved vendors for transport are AM Car & Van and The Chauffer Company." This line is missing from the ministry's version.
The letter in question was written by Raju Sebastian, a protocol official at the Indian High Commission, and is dated October 13, 2009. The Foreign Office claims that Sebastian made no mention of Ashish Patel's company; it merely informed the Organizing Committee of the rates charged by vendors whose records were available with the High Commission. The implicit allegation: that the documents released by Team Kalmadi were forged.
Kalmadi reacted by setting up a three-member team to investigate the charges.
The Organising Community began dealing with AM Cars without a contract. There was no tender process followed. As AM Cars went into liquidation, payments and business for the Commonwealth Games were transferred to AM Films. While this is startling for business protocol -especially when such huge amounts of money are involved - what makes the entire process even more suspect is that there seemed to be little concern over AM's owner, Patel, and his less-than-sterling track record. Legal documents show Patel had a predilection for setting up businesses, changing their registered addresses and management, and shutting them down.
Kalmadi claims that the paperwork was skipped because there simply wasn't time - he says a week before the Queen's Baton Relay in London on October 29 last year, British officials pointed out that mobile video screens, portable toilets and ambulances had to be provided for the ceremony. (
Watch: Suresh Kalmadi to NDTV on corruption charges)
"AM Cars and Vans - a company empanelled by the High Commission of India in London - was appointed for all the transportation requirement on the rates approved by the High Commission. Since AM Films was a sister company of AM Cars and Vans, we went for it - and that also on the rates recommended by the High Commission," Kalmadi said at a press conference over the weekend.
"We wrote a letter to the embassy, and they sent us the rates and accordingly the van and the cars were hired. The other firm that we are talking about is the Films Company ... that provided the barricading, video screenboards, ambulances and the mobile toilets... that company was recommended by the Mayor of the City. They confirmed that there are only few firms that can work in that area...especially the Buckingham Palace area, who are authorised to do it," said Lalit Bhanot, Secretary General of the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games, on NDTV's We the People.
Bhanot today also acknowledged receiving a letter from the Sports Ministry seeking the removal of two members of the Organizing Committee - TS Darbari and Sanjay Mohindroo for alleged links to Patel and his firms. Darbari is also at the center of a Customs investigation that accuses him of trying to illegally import a ring worth 20 lakhs from Dubai. (
Read: Sports Ministry wants Kalmadi aide sacked)
Kalmadi sets up committee to look into three allegations
After his meeting with Foreign Minister SM Krishna, Kalmadi set up a committee whose agenda is to investigate different allegations of corruption:
- Was a letter from the Indian High Commission doctored to make it seem like Indian officials had recommended AM Cars and its owner Ashish Patel as a suitable vendor for services for the Queen's Baton Relay in London in October last year? Despite the glaring absence of a contract, the firm has been paid 200,000 pounds.
- Has a Melbourne-based company, Sports Marketing and Management (SMAM), been given a sweet deal? SMAM has allegedly been promised 250 crores by the Organising Committee for delivering sponsorship and advertisers for the Games. There is no clarity over what sort of sponsorships it has actually delivered so far. There have also been allegations that SMAM has links to World Sports Group, a company that is being investigated for an 80-crore kickback in a controversial cricket broadcast rights' deal for the Indian Premier League (IPL). In a statement issued today, World Sports Group said, "World Sport Group (WSG) and Sports Marketing and Management (SMAM) are two independent and completely separate companies. WSG does not have any contract directly or indirectly with the Organising Committee (OC) nor has it had any financial dealings with the OC or government bodies involved with the Commonwealth Games." In an interview to an Australian newspaper, Mike Bushell, who heads SMAM, said, "We have already beaten the record sponsorship revenue we gained for Melbourne ($US85m) and that's still going, but we have not received a single rupee (from Delhi) yet and there's money overdue."
- Did the Organising Committee inflate prices for equipment that it bought? An NDTV report showed that ACs had been bought a price of four lakhs each, treadmills cost the organizers nine lakhs. Kalmadi has denied financial irregularities.
Video Special: Corruption scandal hits CWG