Corruption in national sports federations is an open secret. After the Commonwealth Games scam blew the lid off the rot in the Indian Olympic Association, DNA has evidence of rampant corruption in an association affiliated to the cash-rich Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
A top boss of the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA), who is member of the BCCI working committee, calls the shots on handling finances without accounting for them and awarding contracts and selling tickets illegally, documents with DNA reveal.
TC Mathew, KCA secretary, south zone convener of the BCCI’s finance committee and member of the National Cricket Academy, along with other officials have been involved in various dubious deals and have misappropriated large amounts of money.
One such scam, DNA found, was related to awarding the Build-Operate Transfer (BOT) contract for the construction of an international stadium at Edakochi. The KCA invited bids from BOT operators in October 2008. Subsequently, the KCA received 24 proposals and a stadium committee was formed.
DNA is in possession of a copy of the minutes of a special general body meeting held on March 15, 2009, in which Mathew is quoted as saying that the committee has recommended Infrastructure Venture Consortium’s (IVC) proposal for the BOT contract.
He said the committee, which recommended IVC, met on February 22, 2009. However, IVC sent its expression of interest (EOI) only on March 3, 2009. “It shows it was fixed in advance,” said K Balaji Iyengar, convener, Kerala Cricketers’ Forum.
A copy of IVC’s March 3, 2009, EOI written by chief executive officer Joseph Varghese to Mathew is with DNA.
“The IVC has been created only for the purpose of taking up the KCA project and it doesn’t have any previous experience. But during our meeting, you expressed that you need an organisation who will take up the work honestly. Only based on your confidence we have decided to venture in the above project,” the letter read.
Varghese further wrote: “Since we are inexperienced in construction activities, we will hire experts to supervise the project during each stage.”
IVC is an exporter of seafood, according to the minutes of the meeting.
Ironically, the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between IVC and landowners at Edakochi was executed on March 9, 2009, in Ernakulam at Rs1 crore per acre.
“This clearly suggests that the deal was finalised even before the general body had approved the proposal,” a KCA member said.
The final sale deed copies signed on April 6, 2009, confirm the kickbacks. The amount which was Rs1 crore per acre became Rs1.10 core per acre.
“The additional Rs10 lakh per acre is the money given to KCA officials. So for 23.95 acres, the amount is Rs2.39 crore,” said a senior KCA official.
At the general body meeting, Mathew said the second MoU between KCA and IVC would be drafted only after consulting all available sources. The details, he had said, would be circulated to all KCA members for suggestions. However, the MOU was executed on March 22, 2009, seven days after the special general body meeting. Several KCA officials told DNA that they did not receive any correspondence related to the MoU.
“Despite being KCA assistant secretary, I did not receive any minutes. Just imagine about the other members. It confirms that the deal was to encourage corrupt practices,” said KCA assistant secretary Sabu P Samuel.
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