CBI, ED to probe CWG contract

New Delhi, May 8
In a move which could spell further trouble for the sacked Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi, the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have started to look into the alleged irregularities in awarding of a contract to Event Knowledge Services (EKS), an international private consultant.
Taking note of a letter from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), forwarded by Sports Minister Ajay Maken, the two agencies have started the investigations on awarding of the contract to EKS.
The PMO had earlier suggested to Sports Ministry that a probe by CBI and the ED be carried out into alleged irregularities in the contracts executed by CWG Organising Committee, specially, in regard to that given to the EKS.
The PMO took a serious view of the findings of the Shunglu Committee report and wrote to the Sports Ministry asking for a probe by the agencies specifically in works carried out by the EKS and other irregularities pointed out by the Shunglu Committee.
The EKS was given three contracts of over Rs 70 crore by the organising committee to extend consultancy services for the venue development and management, games workforce and games planning and project management services.
The PMO has directed "expeditious action" on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's order in the matter and sought the reply of Sports Ministry within a month on the fifth report of the high-level committee appointed by him.
In the letter, the PMO said, "Department of Sports may forward to the CBI/ED, for action as appropriate, relevant extracts of the report pertaining to the matter of the EKS, and the clear cases of forgery, falsification, record creation etc., mentioned in case of other highlighted irregularities".
The financial loss suffered by the government due to favouritism for workforce contract aggregated to Rs 18.36 crore, the report said.
The investigations by the CBI and the ED into awarding of contract to EKS could spell further trouble for sacked OC Chief Suresh Kalmadi, who is already in judicial custody for his role in various irregularities.
The committee, in its report submitted to the PMO on March 28, found several discrepancies in the projects executed by the company and "collusion" among Kalmadi, Chief Executive Officer of CWG Federation Mike Hooper and other senior functionaries of the Games body. The panel found indication of "personal interest" by Kalmadi.
"The contract was awarded on a single source basis on the recommendation/ statement of Mike Hooper, CEO of CGF that EKS was much better informed regarding Delhi venues status than any other International Consultant. This was both a biased and misleading statement," the report said.
"CEO, CGF made every effort to ensure award of these contracts to EKS. The CEO not only personally testified the credentials of this firm but also justified the reasonableness of rates and maydays utilisation and also attended the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) meetings," it said.
"The fabrication of the minutes of two meetings (to decide on contracts) purportedly held on January 30, 2008 and March 10, 2008 was strongly suggestive of collusion between OC top management, CGF functionary and EKS for accomplishing its pre-meditated objective," the report said.
The panel found that the Games Planning and Project Management Contract interestingly, permitted EKS to assign the same to a sister concern.
The EKS incorporated a new company in November, 2008 in Mauritius by the name Event Knowledge Services Pvt Ltd.
The entire contract was assigned to the new company in June 2009, thus, making a mockery of Quality Based Selection System (QBS), the report said.