C'Wealth Games scam: Bhanot flouted procedure for drafting minutes

Former secretary general of C'Wealth Games organising committee Lalit Bhanot, arrested for his alleged role in a scam, flouted the standard procedures to be followed for drafting minutes of the committee's meeting on purchasing of equipment, a senior organising committee official has told CBI.

In his statement to the CBI, organising committee deputy director general (sports) Gurdyal Singh Bawa, who has been arrayed as one of the prosecution witnesses, said Bhanot then being chairman of Committee of Sports Surfaces and Sports Equipment used to finalise the minutes of Committee without obtaining signature and suggestions of its members.

"On being asked it is stated that standard procedure of the draft minutes of a committee being circulated to all members, obtaining their suggestions and corrections/additions /alteration if any, and thereafter preparation of final minutes of the committee before the meeting of the next committee was not followed.

"No signatures of the members of the committee were taken on the final minutes to be kept on record. It is stated that the minutes of the committee were finalised by Lalit Bhanot and, thereafter, I used to sign it," Bawa said in his statement which is a part of the charge sheet filed by the CBI in the case.

Bawa's statement is annexed with the charge sheet filed by the CBI in a Delhi court on May 20 against former organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi, Bhanot and others for their alleged involvement in the Timing, Scoring and Result (TSR) scam in which a contract was illegally awarded to the Swiss firm.

According to the charge sheet, the accused allegedly awarded Rs141 crore contract to the Swiss firm to install a TSR system for the games at an exorbitant cost, causing a loss of over Rs90 crore to the exchequer.

Detailing Bhanot's role in the committee, Bawa, who was the convener of the committee, said he had recommended the name of Swiss firm Omega for the TSR system saying it has the monopoly in multi-sporting events.

"It is seen that no scope of work, different verticals and technological parameters of TSR systems was placed before the committee or discussed...In fact none of the members of the committee including myself knew about this matter of high technology.

"When Bhanot recommended the name of Omega timer for all games, nobody said anything. After the proposal of the chairman Lalit Bhanot, a unanimous resolution was recorded to recommend Omega timer and photo finish system for all games except shooting," Bawa told the CBI.

He said that 'SUIS ASCOR' was recommended for shooting, but its name was never even mentioned in the papers.

"It is also seen to be unanimously resolved to recommend 'SUIS ASCOR' for shooting, and after going through the minutes I state that this is never even mentioned anywhere in these papers not even in the proposal/statement of Bhanot," he said.