Reacting to allegations made by Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, Brijesh Patel maintained that there was no by-law barring office-bearers from transacting the association’s business with companies they were related to.
“I agree I started Composite Travels, but it is one of the companies with which the KSCA transacted for travel tickets. In fact, Tradewings gets more business from the KSCA. Composite Travels would have got business worth Rs nine lakh per year whereas it is Rs 26 lakh for Tradewings. Now, Composite Travels is defunct.
You can carry a transaction with a company in which you have a business interest as long as it is at arm’s length. The managing committee is aware of these issues,” Patel explained.
On the allegation relating to Sporting Frontiers, Patel said: “Sporting Frontiers has got revenue worth Rs 1.26 crore in terms of in-stadia advertising, higher than what previous companies got us. As association members, we are interested in generating a higher revenue for our association.
Subramanya is part of the financial advisory committee and has no executive powers. I don’t see any clash of interest. Besides, all transactions are approved by the managing committee and the money is issued only after the financial committee approves it. Both V Jagannath and Ashokanand, who are in the rival camp now, are privy to these transactions.”
On his role in the Stellavista giant video-screen deal, Patel had this to say: “The KSCA negotiated with Stellavista from December 2004. We approved their tender from among nine bids in our annual general body meeting on January 29, 2005 and subsequently the screen was installed in February 2005.
My company, Stellavista (India) Pvt Ltd., was launched in September 2005, much after the deal was finalised. I opted for that name for brand visibility and my company is maintaining the screen here free of charge.
“In fact, all these allegations were raised by Deccan United Cricket Club in a letter to us on June 6, 2007 and we replied to that on August 4, 2007. I am surprised that during the press conference, they did not mention our clarifications,” Patel added.
