Olympic timekeepers charged over Delhi corruption 03/12/2010 |
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Sports timing company Swiss Timing has been charged by Indian police over alleged kickbacks contained in a contract it won for the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
The Swiss group – a subsidiary of Swatch Group AG, which has been timekeeper at several Olympics Games, most recently at Beijing in 2008 – has been named in the latest charges in a wide-ranging police probe into the event held in October, reports Inside the Games.
Two high-ranking officials, the closest aides to the unpopular chairman of the event Suresh Kalmadi, have also been charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption, a statement issued this week said.
Police claim Swiss Timing had supplied equipment “at exorbitant rates”, thereby causing huge loss to the Government.
The accused men, organising committee secretary general Lalit Bhanot and director general V.K. Verma, are alleged to have manipulated the bidding criteria to eliminate other bidders and award the contract to Swiss Timing.
They "entered into criminal conspiracy with a Switzerland-based company", named as Swiss Timing in the police statement.
"We seized huge amounts of incriminating documents from their residences and we are certain more details of corruption will emerge soon," a Central Bureau of Investigation spokesman told AFP.
Swiss Timing was responsible for timing events at stadiums at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.
It has a long history of working on major sporting events stretching back to 1972. Among other major events, it was the official timekeeper at the Atlanta, Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympics.
Both Verma and Bhanot denied any wrongdoing after detectives searched their homes on Tuesday (November 30).
The Delhi Games were hit by claims of massive financial irregularities as the budget ballooned to an estimated $6bn.
Last week, police arrested the sacked treasurer of the organising committee, M. Jayachandran, on charges of forgery and cheating over the awarding of Games-related contracts.
Police have also charged two other former Games officials.
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