CBI plays soft ball

Indian Olympic Association chief and former head of the CWG Organising Committee Suresh Kalmadi has finally been arrested by the CBI for awarding Commonwealth Games contract to a Swiss company at an inflated rate of `141 crore and causing `95 crore loss to the exchequer.Kalmadi is allegedly accused of not only signing the contract as the head of the executive board of the OC, from which he was removed after the loot was widely reported in the media, but because of his pre-mediated and planned role much before the contract was awarded to Swiss Timekeeping.Kalmadi was instrumental in changing the specification for awarding the contract to the Swiss company and appointing personnel who toed his line. Kalmadi also removed officials who objected to the selection of the company on a single tender basis while ignoring MSL of Spain. For the Timing-Scoring-Result (TSR) System, MSL had quoted `45 crore but Kalmadi awarded contract to Swiss Timekeeping thus causing `95 crore loss to the exchequer. Out of this loss, `23 crore was paid for non-execution of any service.“Kalmadi was arrested for awarding the contract in a planned and pre-mediated manner to the Swiss company,” a CBI official said after formally arresting the Pune MP at 3.30 pm on Monday."Kalmadi threatened and coerced tender evaluation committee members to disqualify other bidders," the CBI said. Agency spokesperson Dharini Mishra said further investigations are on.The CBI has so far registered 10 cases in the scam related to the organisation of the event.
Five of these are against the OC, three against NDMC and one against SIS Live.More than six months after the sports extravaganza and a month after arresting two officials, the agency has finally pounced on the big cat.The same slow pace and over-cautious approach of the agency is visible in the 2G scam probe. Though the agency has named DMK chief M Karunanidhi’s daughter M Kanimozhi in the second chargesheet filed today, it has left out his wife Dayaluammal. After receiving Rs 100 crore on splitting with Sun TV, Dayaluammal along with daughter Kanimozhi and Sharad Kumar formed Kalaignar TV. This television company got unsecured loan which is seen as an alleged ‘bribe’ of Rs 200 crore from Shahid Balwa’s DB Realty for getting spectrum licence. After it was discovered and reported in the media, the money was given back to Balwa’s company.The CBI says it did not make her an accused because “she does not know English”. The agency ignored the fact Dayaluammal has 60 per cent stake in Kalaignar TV and being a majority partner, she is legally responsible for all the actions that her company takes.“We did not name her as an accused because she did not know English. Even her statement was recorded with the help of a translator. She had no active role and her signatures are not on any company document,” the CBI official investigating the case said. Kanimozhi was made an accused because “she was an active stakeholder, effectively dealing with (former Telecom minister A) Raja, Radia tapes and she was pushing Kalaignar TV in Delhi,” an official said.By filing the second chargesheet, the CBI has effectively concluded the 2G scam probe except the Loop Telecom, where some senior officials have stakes in Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt Ltd (formerly Swan Telecom Pvt Ltd) and Loop Telecom through Mauritius-based companies. However, the agency would find it difficult to move against ADAG chief Anil Ambani and Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata as Swan and Unitech involved in the 2G scam are alleged fronts of both the groups respectively. CBI officials admit that was as far as it could go but left little room depending on the circumstances. “We have to move according to each layer. If a layer leads to second layer we proceed. If we find no evidence leading to third level, we cannot proceed on the basis of presumed evidence,” a senior official handling investigation said. However, the CBI may file an additional chargesheet in the Loop case. The agency is moving slowly as it getting sanction against senior officials in a phased manner, according to sources. The high and mighty involved in both the 2G scam and CWG loot are actively involved in removing evidence. “This is what they are doing. What can we do about it,” admitted a CBI official.