After Kalmadi, CBI to target bigger fish

While the former chief of the CWG Organising Committee was finally arrested on Monday, sources say Delhi government and its agencies will be under the scanner in the coming days

After Kalmadi, CBI to target bigger fish

While the former chief of the CWG Organising Committee was finally arrested on Monday, sources say Delhi government and its agencies will be under the scanner in the coming days

Former organising committee chairman, Suresh Kalmadi ran out of his excuses on Monday morning when he was once again brought face-to-face with corruption charges against him at the CBI headquarters - this time (his third visit for questioning) with proper evidence. Result: The man, who was the face of the 'successful' Commonwealth Games (CWG) in 2010, was officially arrested by the CBI and would soon be put behind bars.

Deep thought: Delhi CM, Sheila Dikshit, with Commonwealth Games
2010 Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadii during the
inauguration of Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Swimming Pool complex
ahead of the mega sporting event in the Capital. File pic

Shortly after 4 pm on Monday, CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra walked into the office's conference room and confirmed: "The CBI has today arrested the then chairman of OC of CWG 2010 for conspiracy to cause favour to a private firm based in Switzerland in awarding the contract for timing, scoring and result generation."
u00a0
Who's next?
Now when former OC chairman has been put behind bars, the question that is uppermost on everybody's mind is, "Will CBI target Delhi government and other civic agencies next?" Till now ten FIRs have been registered by the investigating agency in connection with the Commonwealth Games scam, out of which five are in connection with the involvement of Organising Committee members. The rest are against civic agencies like NDMC, CPWD, DDA and their officials.

CBI has carried out searches at 20 premises of Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Central Public Works Department (CPWD) officers and that of a private firm in connection with alleged irregularities in laying of synthetic turf for lawn bowl event during the games.

Official and residential premises of several DDA and CPWD officials besides that of private company Jubilee Sports Private Limited were searched by the agency, they said.

Two senior engineers of DDA, Umesh Kumar and NH Khan, a retired senior engineer Janeshwar Tyagi and four CPWD officials - executive engineers Dineshwar Gaur and Surja Ram, senior engineer Rajendra Kala and assistant engineer Kailash Chand - were among those named in an FIR.u00a0 CBI sources told MiD DAY that more apprehensions in the CWG scam are likely in the coming days. "There have been FIRs against civic agencies and we are probing the matter. More results will follow," a CBI source said.

Misgivings galore
Meanwhile, the Home Ministry has sent the report of the Shunglu Committee to Delhi government, Delhi Development Authority and New Delhi Municipal Council. The ministry asked the agencies to explain their position on the findings of the Shunglu Committee within a month, appointed by the Prime Minister to look into corruption in the conduct of the Commonwealth Games, and what action they were taking on it. The Shunglu Committee has allegedly held the agencies responsible for lack of oversight and decisions that led to cost escalation.

Sources said the report has been sent to the agencies last week after it was examined by Home Minister P Chidambaram. The Home Ministry may send the report to CBI for further inquiry if the replies from the agencies are not satisfactory. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had on October 25 appointed a two-member high level committee under the chairmanship of former Comptroller and Auditor General VK Shunglu to look into various aspects of corruption and other deficiencies in the conduct of mega sporting event held here between October 3 and October 14 last year.

In the first week of April, the committee had raised a finger at the roles of Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit and Lt-Governor Tejendra Khanna in the Games. Sheila however rejected the report and conveyed to the PM her government's view that the findings of the panel were unfair and inconsistent.

In its third report on projects to upgrade city infrastructure, especially related to road and transport, the committee has noted that there was no special preparation by the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) and allegedly blamed Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for her decisions that led to cost escalation in CWG related projects. The report said there was no special preparation by Delhi government despite constrained time frame.

It said unfair cost advantage was given to contractors due to compressed time frame and noted indication of "collusive bidding" by tenders floated by Public Works Department (PWD). According to a conservative estimate by the panel, works worth over Rs 5,500 crore were carried out by the Delhi government, a majority of which - about 75 per cent - were executed by PWD.

'Best-case' scenario
Everyone had anticipated that Suresh Kalmadi would be booked and arrested for involvement in the Queen's Baton Relay (QBR) scam. Instead he was apprehended for his involvement in the TSR case.

Sources in the CBI, meanwhile, said that as far as QBR case goes they are awaiting a report from Scotland Yard about Ashish Patel's statement which he is expected to give to the London police.

A two-member team had gone to London in first week of April to gather details on the QBR deals concluded by CWG's Organising Committee (OC) had met Ashish Patel twice. The QBR deals were done with the London-based AM Cars & Vans and AM Films, owned by Ashish Patel. The Scotland Yard had told the CBI that it will gather all the documents and information required by them and send them via their reply to CBI's two Letters Rogatories sent earlier. We are now waiting for that reply," CBI sources said. The agency suspects that the two deals were done allegedly without following the tendering process as per norms and by awarding the contracts in an arbitrary manner.

Not just Kalmadi
Apart from Kalmadi, two other OC officials have also been apprehended, who have been identified as Surjit Lal, the then deputy director general, procurements and ASV Prasad, joint director general, sports.

Absent!
Suresh Kalmadi did not appear at the Central Bureau of Investigation headquarters on April 20, even though the agency had sought his presence for questioning in cases related to alleged irregularities in the conduct of the sporting event. He had cited that he had gone to Pune for some personal work.
Then on April 22, he was again called for questioning, but his aides informed the agency that he was abroad (reportedly in North Korea to attend a conference). He came on Monday for questioning after a reported stern letter written to him by a senior CBI officer.

Noose tightens
CBI has registered a case under section 120B (conspiracy) read with Section 420 (cheating) IPC and other relevant sections of Prevention of Corruption Act in the case. Sources in the CBI said that the contract for TSR - Timing Scoring and Result was awarded to a firm - Switch Time Omega - for 141 crores on single tender basis, which resulted into the loss of about Rs 95 crores to the public ex-chequer. The company which was not awarded the contract despite their bid of about 48 crores was MSL Spain, which was ignored by the OC.

"It was the same company which was hired for Guangzhou Asian games in 2010 where they did a very good job in very less amount of money," the CBI sources stated. Investigations have revealed that members of the tender evaluation committee were coerced and threatened to disqualify other bidders. Investigation has also revealed that Indian representatives of the favour supplier were in regular contact with three arrested OC officials much before the award of tender.

It is alleged that officials of the CWG Organising Committee had conspired with the representatives of the private firm in Switzerland and contract for TSR was awarded by wrongfully restricting and eliminating competition from other suppliers in a pre-mediated and planned manner," the official said. The official said the investigation has revealed that the Committee for short-listing prospective bidders was TSR was constituted by selecting "hand-picked" officials. CBI sources also said that there are a lot of differentiating factors which are against him. "There are differences in his oral statements and documentary evidence," the CBI sources stated.