Kalmadi arrested, suspended by Cong

Kalmadi’s arrest was announced after his day-long questioning at the CBI headquarters, the fourth since December last, in connection with the alleged irregularities related to the award of contract to Swiss Timekeeping.

Kalmadi was arrested for “conspiracy to favour a private firm based in Switzerland by awarding contract of TRS system at inflated cost of Rs 141 crore,” a senior CBI official said.
“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 system was awarded by wrongfully restricting and eliminating competition from other suppliers in a pre-mediated and planned manner,” the official said.  Investigation has revealed that the committee for short-listing prospective bidders for TSR was constituted by selecting handpicked officials, the agency said.

 Members of the tenders evaluation committee were “coerced and threatened to disqualify other bidders,” the CBI said.

Consequent to his arrest, the Congress announced Kalmadi’s suspension from the party and a move was afoot to divest him of the post of pesident of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) with Union Sports Minister Ajay Maken threatening intervention by the ministry if the IOA failed to act. The Congress had earlier forced him to give up the post of Secretary of the Congress Parliamentary Party.

“Let there be no ambiguity...at appropriate time, appropriate demonstrable and visible action will be taken,” party spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters at the AICC briefing here when asked if Kalmadi’s arrest was an embarrassment to the party and whether he would be removed as an MP.

Kalmadi  would be produced before a local court on Tuesday, a CBI spokesperson said. Kalmadi had earlier told the media that he was not the only one involved in the decision-making process for various contracts for the CWG.

According to sources, CBI  has substantial proof of irregularities against Kalmadi also in hiring the London–based media firm ‘AM films’ at exorbitant rates in September 2009. The AM films was to provide outdoor advertising for the Queen’s Baton Relay which marked the beginning of the Commonwealth Games. It was  to provide taxis, portable toilets and massive public TV screens for the ceremony.

Kalmadi’s closest aides —Lalit Bhanot,  who served as the secretary general of the Organizing Committee and V K Verma, who was its Director General - were earlier arrested by the investigating agency. Kalmadi allegedly  sanctioned transfer of huge amounts of cash to AM Films and its owner, Ashish Patel, even though there was no signed contract.

According to sources, a CBI team had met with Patel in London, and sought him to turn approver.  It is alleged that three other bids made by other UK firms for the Queen’s Baton Relay function were forged –in an alleged attempt to prove that due process had been followed in considering offers from a series of companies.

The V K Shunglu Committee, set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to probe CWG irregularities has submitted a 534-page report  to the PM in which it   it said Kalmadi ran the Organizing Committee “like a club” — misusing his powers and favouring select contractors.

Meanwhile, the main opposition BJP has demanded that besides Kalmadi , Prime Minister’s office and Delhi government should also be made answerable for CWG corruption.