Now an Aussie firm in Commonwealth Games sleaze

After the UK firm, AM Films Ltd, which is caught in a corruption scandal over irregular financial transactions with the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee here, it is now the turn of an Australian firm to come under the scanner.

According to sources, the Australian firm which had bagged the contracts for the opening and closing ceremonies had inserted certain additional works into the contract, after the deal had been finalised.

A complaint in this regard has been received by the Finance ministry. “We have forwarded the matter for further investigation to the Enforcement Directorate,” a senior finance ministry official confirmed. The contracts and the alleged unlawful insertions amount to several crores.

Though it appears unlikely that the government will proceed with the investigations now, with barely anytime left for the Games, certain senior functionaries of the Organising Committee (OC) are also reportedly under scrutiny. Sources said that the e-mail accounts of some OC functionaries and their family members are likely to be scrutinized.

Sources said there are several complaints of alleged corruption involving the OC and some foreign firms that have bagged contracts.

The UK-based AM Films has, meanwhile, admitted that it did not have a contract with the Organising Committee of the Games, but denied allegations of irregular financial transactions with them.

The company’s proprietor, Ashish Patel, reportedly said that the money was transferred by the Organising Committee in lieu of services obtained during the Queen’s Baton Relay function held in London last October.

The alleged scandal came to light when the OC asked for a VAT refund of £14,000 in March for payments made to the British company. Allegations of substantial amounts being transferred on a regular basis to AM Films also emerged when the British government raised doubts about the deal yesterday.