CWG scam: Bhanot flouted procedure for drafting minutes

New Delhi, Jul 3 (PTI) Former Secretary General of CWG
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 OC official has told Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI), India's premier investigation agency.
In his statement to the CBI, OC 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 OC
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 Rs 141 crore contract to the Swiss firm to install a
TSR system for the games at an exorbitant cost, causing a loss
of over Rs 90 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.