Government officials, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, have become increasingly concerned about the problems, which include allegations that under Kalmadi the Organising Committee have awarded several lucrative deals to foreign companies without proper consultation or formal contracts being signed.

Chandrashekar, 62, a former Revenue Secretary of India who is considered to be India's top civil servant, has already held emergency meetings with Kalmadi and other Government Ministries involved in the organisation of the Games.

The pressure on Kalmadi intensified today when India's Enforcement Directorate, which is controlled by the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, announced that they approached the Royal Bank of Scotland in London to provide transaction details of payments made by the Organising Committee.

The probe comes after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) raised questions about deals signed between the Delhi organisers and foreign firms, including like Fast Track, Sports Marketing and Management (SMAM) and Maxxam, who are organising the Queen's Baton Relay which has travelled around the Commonwealth during the build-up to the Games, which are due to open on October 3.

The Enforcement Directorate has already questioned Commonwealth Games Organising Committee joint director general T.S Darbari and suspended Deputy Director General Sanjay Mohindroo over alleged financial irregularities in connection with the Queen's Baton Relay.



Kalmadi, the President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), has consistently denied that he is guilty of anything illegal but the Government appears to have lost confidence in him, even though he is an MP for the ruling Congress party, and are trying to distance themselves from him.

Party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said: "We do not hold any brief.

"Kalmadi is not there [Indian Olympic Association] as a member of Congress.

The actions of Kalmadi as President of an autonomous body are not connected with the party in any way."

The Enforcement Directorate investigation is now focused on trailing the ultimate beneficiaries of the payments made to four major Games consultants - Event Knowledge Services, Fast Track Sales, Sports Marketing And Management (SMAM) and AM Films.

Preliminary findings of a report conducted by CAG claimed that undue favour had been shown to London-based Fast Track Sales "solely on the recommendation" of Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) President Mike Fennell and Kalmadi.

Fast Track was given the contract despite demanding a higher commission, the CAG claimed, costing organisers more than £3 million ($4.6 million) in lost revenue.

The CAG also claimed that no detailed technical evaluation was done before approving Fast Track, the London-based company founded by Britain's Olympic silver medallist Alan Pascoe.

But CGF chief executive Mike Hooper and Organising Committee Secretary General Dr. Lalit Bhanot have both defended the decision to appoint Fast Track, claiming that they had doubled the revenue for the Games.

The Enforcement Directorate are also investigating Maxxam International and SMAM, whose contract to raise sponsorship for the Games was terminated earlier this month after complaints about the amount of commission they were receiving.

The CAG report claimed that there irregularities in choosing Maxxam International as consultants for the Queen Baton Relay and they were chosen despite their offer being five times higher than the lowest.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
August 2010: Alan Pascoe company dragged into Commonwealth Games corruption scandal
August 2010: Kalmadi writes to MPs to defend himself over Delhi corruption claims
August 2010: Queen in "cold fury" over Commonwealth Games scandal
August 2010: Commonwealth Games is my baby and I won't leave it says Kalmadi
August 2010: Delhi Commonwealth Games continues spiral into crisis