Pushed to a corner by revelations of financial irregularities, Commonwealth Games organising committee (OC) chairman Suresh Kalmadi hit back at a press conference in the Capital on Saturday, saying there was total transparency in its dealings. A day after a news channel broke the story of an alleged scam involving a UK-based company and the OC in organising the launch of the Queen’s Baton Relay in London last October, Kalmadi declared that everything in the matter was above board. “We have nothing to hide. There is total transparency in the OC and we have a clear conscience. Every penny is accounted for. We are hurt by these allegations,” Kalmadi told reporters at the OC’s headquarters in the Capital.
Going into the details of the allegedly dubious dealings with AM Films and its sister concern AM Cars & Vans, Kalmadi said the firm had been recommended by the Indian high commission in London. He displayed a letter from the high commission, signed by one Raju Sebastian, received on October 13, 2009. But the high commission issued a statement, saying: “This company (AM Films Limited) was not on the panel of companies that the high commission recommended. Raju Sebastian is an assistant in the high commission of India and is not in a position to make such a recommendation. But for the commission to make any such statement, we need to scrutinise the e-mail held up by Kalmadi.”
Kalmadi explained the organisers’ position, saying: “There is no question of lying. A few days before the function at Buckingham Palace, we were told by the London authorities, including the Metropolitan Police, that additional items like mobile video screens, portable toilets, ambulances, barricades etc had to be placed at the launch site without which the authorities would not allow us to hold the programme. The President of India was coming and because of the short notice, we could not have done it through a tender or contract.” “The high commission recommended AM Films for the additional job and we took them on, as well as the sister company AM Cars and Vans, because our main event management company, Jacks and Morton Worldwide, said their hands were full.”
Kalmadi went on to insist that the organisers had not transferred £25,000 (about Rs.18.13 lakh) every month to AM Films for costume design, as reported by the channel. “We neither paid money for costume designing nor did we pay any monthly amount to AM Films. The whole amount of £238,000 (Rs.1.73 crore) was paid one-time in October 2009. No payments have taken place after October 30,” he said.
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