The CBI raided and booked on Tuesday OC secretary general Lalit Bhanot and director general VK Verma for cheating and criminal conspiracy.
Fifteen days after arresting senior Commonwealth Games organising committee (OC) officials in connection with alleged corruption in organisation of the queen’s baton relay in London last year, CBI raided and booked on Tuesday OC secretary general Lalit Bhanot and director general VK Verma for cheating and criminal conspiracy.
The case pertains to the award of the timing, scoring and result (TSR) system contract to M/s Swiss Timing Ltd for an “exorbitant amount of Rs107 crore [and after] wrongfully eliminating another firm at the pre-qualification stage”. M/s Swiss Timing Ltd has also been named in the CBI FIR.
CBI investigations have found that “Bhanot and Verma abused their official position and entered into a criminal conspiracy with a Switzerland-based company and other unknown persons to cheat the government of India”.
“The expression of interest was published announcing that only Swiss Timing Ltd met the laid-down criterion. A request for proposal [RFP] was then issued on October 1, 2009. This was surreptitiously amended three days later, making the bids even more restrictive,” a CBI official said, adding, “In response to RFP, two bids were received. However, the other firm, a Spanish company, was allegedly wrongfully eliminated at the pre-qualification stage.”
CBI officials said 11 places were raided on Tuesday, which included offices and residences of OC joint director general RK Sacheti and Sangeeta Welingkar, a member of Games Image and Look Group, besides those of Bhanot and Verma.
Verma, who is out of the country and is expected to return in a few days, responded, “It was a Swiss company...world’s best company that gives equipment to the Olympics. No individual had a role in selecting the company. The proposal was scrutinised by the sports ministry...it was cleared by OC’s executive board...the decision was taken by 25 people....”
Bhanot, on the other hand, said, “A CBI team came in the morning. They wanted to search my house, they did it and we cooperated. The decision was jointly taken by the board, which includes government members as well as members of various federations and the Olympic association.”
CBI had on November 15 raided three former OC officials — joint director general TS Darbari, deputy director general Sanjay Mohindroo and director Raj Singh. While Darbari and Mohindroo were arrested the same day, Singh was arrested later.
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