Commonwealth Games scams revived by BJP, attacks Congress

New Delhi, Apr 6 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday charged the Congress party of misappropriating funds meant for staging of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Leveling these accusations, BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra said: "The scams are being exposed gradually. We have been pointing at this right from the outset. It's been around one and half years since the Commonwealth Games were conducted. The scam involved around 70 thousand crore rupees.

The persons, who are in prison on whom cases have been lodged, were involved with only 100-150 crore rupees. The rest of the funds were sanctioned by Delhi Government, the central government, Delhi Police, Home Ministry, Group of Ministers and Prime Minister but none of them have been touched as yet," said Malhotra.

Reacting to the findings of the Shunglu Committee, Malhotra said that all the welfare funds that were meant for SC/ST were diverted for games and spent at the wrong place.

"The Shunglu Committee had reported that the Delhi Government spent nearly 30000 crore rupees, earlier they had to spend nearly 500-700 crore rupees. The funds of SC and ST were also spent, 900 crore rupees were spent on Connaught Place. CAG had noted that the funds were spent in a wrong way," added Malhotra.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had earlier appointed a committee headed by retired Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) V K Shunglu to probe allegation of misuse of funds and allied irregularities in conducting the mega event of Commonwealth Games.

The 19th Commonwealth Games were marred by charges of corruption, dubious contracts and poor workmanship in execution of various facilities.

In its report, the committee had held former Commonwealth Games (CWG) Organizing Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi responsible for irregularities in the staging of the mega event.

Kalmadi was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2011, for fraud and conspiring with other officers of the Organising Committee for overpaying a Swiss firm 95 crores for timing and scorekeeping equipment that was used at different venues during the Commonwealth Games.

Kalmadi has been accused of sanctioning payments to AM Films and AM Car at rates that were hugely inflated. (ANI)