Carrying its probe deeper into the alleged multi-crore Commonwealth Games overlays scam,the Central Bureau of Investigation registered its fourth FIR on Thursday. The investigating agency also searched more than 10 places in the National Capital Region,including premises of four firms in connection with the Games scam. Games Director General V K Verma,whose name also figured in the third FIR filed by the CBI in connection with the Rs 107 crore Swiss Time Keeping deal along with that of CWG Secretary General Lalit Bhanot,has been named an accused in the overlays scam case,sources said. Kalmadi's name does not figure in the latest FIR,they said. Verma had earlier been questioned by the CBI in connection with irregularities in Games projects. The raids come a day after the agency questioned Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi. The Indian Express had reported on Wednesday that the CBI would register one of the most important cases in connection with the Commonwealth Games: the Rs 668-crore worth of contracts given by the Organising Committee to four foreign firms for the supply of overlays equipment and furnishings for rent. CBI officials had said the allegations were largely technical and circumstantial in nature. In that,the Suresh Kalmadi-led OC first delayed finalising the contracts for almost two years and,eventually,presented the two Finance Committees and finally,the CWG Executive Board with a fait accompli for choosing the four foreign firms since they had given overlays on rent to other international sports events and were ready with entire consignments for the 2010 New Delhi Games. The CBIs main focus in the case will evidently be the cartelisation of the overlay contractors and the sudden shift of the OC bosses to go in for a part asset creation route to a fully rental one. Documents with the CBI reportedly show that the OC had decided to purchase assets and fixtures to the tune of Rs 200 crore but later decided to hire all overlays for Rs 668 crore. The challenge for the agency,however,is that these contracts which took away the largest chunk of the Rs 1,600-crore budget of the Organising Committee were cleared,at different stages,by senior serving and retired bureaucrats from the Ministries of Urban Affairs,Sports and Finance as well as officials of the Delhi Government. They include several Secretaries and OC CEO Jarnail Singh. The question confronting the CBI is: If Kalmadi is to be made part of a conspiracy,which according to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) caused an extra burden of Rs 447 crore on the government,what about the other government officials? For starters,there were two government nominees on the OCs Finance Committee (from the Sports Ministry) after which the proposals went to the OCs Sub Finance Committee and had the serving Secretaries of the Ministries of Urban Affairs and Sports as members along with an Additional Secretary (Expenditure) in the Ministry of Finance. The final approvals to the deal were given by the 15-member Executive Board which besides these bureaucrats had an Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Finance,top OC bosses and members of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) as members. It was the CVC which first probed the CWG overlay contracts and in mid-November sent their findings to the CBI with an advisory that the irregularities in the award of contracts attracted penal provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act. As The Indian Express had earlier reported,a rent analysis of the CWG inventory showed that different suppliers had charged the OC as much as 50 items for identical items. Sources said the CBI raids started early in the morning and are focused on four companies,which had acted as the Indian arm for the same number of international firms. The contracts were bagged by a consortium of foreign and Indian firms. While the details of the FIR are still to be known,the sources said involvement of some OC officials could be probed. The overlays contracts are already under the scanner of both the Income Tax Department and the Enforcement Directorate. The CBI had earlier registered three FIRs for alleged corruption in projects and events in the run up to the sporting extravaganza. While two cases have been registered in connection with alleged irregularities in the Queen's baton relay,the third FIR is in connection with the awarding of contract for time and scoring.
