Kalmadi, GEM in National Games mess too?

New Delhi: Suresh Kalmadi has been arrested in the TSR scam with the CBI accusing him of conspiring with a private firm named GEM International, which is the Indian representative of Swiss timing for causing a loss of almost Rs 50 crores.

Now investigators are trying to figure out whether this deal was only operational during Commonwealth Games or was it also meant for the recently concluded National Games in Jharkhand.

An internal audit report from the Jharkhand Vigilance Department questions the need for awarding contract of time scoring devices to the same firm, GEM International. The pattern here is the same with GEM International bagging the order at an exorbitant sum of Rs 880.77 lakhs, while there was another vendor Shiv Naresh Sports offering the same equipment for Rs 155.86 lakhs.

Investigators are trying to figure out whether Kalmadi had a deal with GEM for the National Games too.

Even in jail this letter written by Kalmadi's aide, SM Hashmi, is going to compound his woes. The letter states that the list of equipment had been provided by the President of the IOA and a discussion was held with him in Delhi. The President of The IOA is Kalmadi himself.

The representatives of GEM International have been questioned by the CBI on Tuesday. The CBI wants to bring Suresh Kalmadi face to face with the representatives of this firm. The idea is to figure out just how did the money travel from Swiss Timing through GEM and all the way to Kalmadi and others.

On his part, Kalmadi has always maintained that he himself had nothing to do with any purchases during the National Games and that a separate committee was set up to approve them. But Jharkhand's Principal Accountant General's report states that serious omissions and commissions have taken place in financial dealings for the games.

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