CWG scam; UK firm sends Rs 90-lakh bill

The UK firm accused of receiving inflated payments from the organisers of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) has sent a bill to the Organising Committee of £122,692 (Rs 89.52 lakh) as unpaid dues for services during the Queen’s Baton Relay (QBR).

This email to top OC officials from Ashish Patel of AM Car & Van came as recently as August 2 right in the middle of the controversy that gripped the OC and prompted its chairman Suresh Kalmadi to deny any charges of wrongdoing.

Incidentally, on August 4, when Kalmadi said he was open to any probe, he made no mention of this note from AM Car & Van.

The email, senior officials admit, suggests discrepancies in payments made to AM Car & Van and its sister concern AM Films. A total of £3.84 lakh was paid to these firm since October 2009.

Three OC officials have been either dismissed or suspended following allegations of “financial irregularities” in the AM deal as well as other controversies.

Scrutiny of all foreign exchange transactions made for the QBR have been handed over to the Enforcement Directorate.

Details of the OC’s internal investigation have thrown up key details:

Due to discrepancies in accounts and receipts, officials in New Delhi did not settle final accounts with AM Car and AM Films, Result: OC account books show £3.84 lakh as “outstanding and unsettled.”

In August 2009, T S Darbari and Sanjay Mohindroo hired the services of AM Car & Van and notched up a bill for £3,376 for their 6-day stay in London.

Subsequently, on October 23-24, the OC made several payments to these AM companies. The first was a payment of £2.38 lakh made to AM Car & Van of which the company asked the OC to transfer a little over 1 lakh pounds to the account of AM films.

The OC also marked a second payment of £1.46 lakh to AM Films around the same time.

The OC provided credit cards to some officials when they visited London in connection with the QBR ceremonies after seeking RBI permission. These included Deputy Director General Sanjay Mohindroo and OSD M Jaichandran, both of whom were given credit limits of £65,000.

Mohindroo reportedly said that a bulk of this limit was paid by him to AM Car/Films for their services and the ED is now looking at this money trail too.