The noose appears to be tightening around both suspended Prasar Bharati chief executive B.S. Lalli and Doordarshan’s current director-general Aruna Sharma with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh taking a “serious view” of the findings of the Shunglu committee report, which has severely indicted both officials for alleged financial irregularities in the Commonwealth Games broadcast deal.
A day after the committee submitted the first of its reports, the PMO made it clear that “swift and stern action is likely” once Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar has given his suggestions on the report. The report is now with the Cabinet Secretary for “urgent examination”. The Prime Minister is learnt to have directed him to submit his report within a week, with his “considered recommendation” on what followup action is required.
Significantly, the expert panel has said in its report that “certain actions seem to attract penal provisions under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act”, and suggested that “this aspect also needs to be separately investigated”.
The government’s steps come in the wake of a recommendation by the Shunglu panel asking that the government decide on action against both Mr Lalli and Ms Sharma as well as “others who acted in concert with them for providing undue gain to SIS Live/Zoom Communications Ltd”.
The panel found that the contract for production and coverage of the Games last year was awarded to SIS Live at a cost of `246 crores on the basis of a single bid, while the other nine responses were either rejected or the entities had backed out owing to “unduly restrictive and stringent conditions”. This isn’t all. The Shunglu panel also found that the “actual cost of the contract awarded to SIS Live was at best `111 crores” and that this helped SIS Live and Zoom Communications to make “a profit of at least `135 crores”.
The Shunglu report also notes: “It appears to be the case that SIS Live secured the contract for `246 crores; assigned it to Zoom Communications for `177 crores; provided no service and made a profit of the difference between the contracted price and the assigned price, i.e. `69 crores”.
Noting that Prasar Bharati had “received and supported highly-inflated bids”, the two-member panel said further: “Most of the decisions to support and award the inflated bids were taken by the director-general, Doordarshan, and the then chief executive officer despite strong contrary views.”
It also says the contract was assigned by SIS Live to Zoom Communications for `177 crores on the same day on which the contract was signed between Prasar Bharati and SIS Live. “This was in gross violation of tender conditions. SIS Live also issued a press release on March 8, 2010 announcing the award of a key and exclusive contract for broadcast services for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India to Zoom Communications Ltd India,” it said.
Pointing an accusing finger at Mr Lalli and Ms Sharma, the report says: “The responsibility for providing undue benefit to SIS Live and Zoom Communications is primarily that of the then CEO, Prasar Bharati, and the director-general, Doordarshan. They cannot be recused from the acts of omission and commission which facilitated this wrongdoing.”
Inappropriate changes in contractual terms and conditions and false or incorrect recording of the minutes of meetings by key functionaries of Prasar Bharati, such as the CEO and the D-G (DD), have also been observed.
The report says Doordarshan’s technical staff had confirmed their capacity and readiness to cover the production of 10 out of 17 events in the Commonwealth Games. Coverage of the remaining seven events, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies, which required specialisation, was proposed to be outsourced way back in 2007. Yet this decision was abandoned by Prasar Bharati without any recorded reasons.
“The decision to outsource the entire work was motivated. This not only cost the exchequer avoidable higher expenditure but also deprived Doordarshan the opportunity to acquire the latest broadcasting skills and equipment for delivering future events,” the panel said.
A clear nexus between SIS Live, Zoom Communications and elements of the Prasar Bharati management was apparent from the sequence of events, starting from the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune 2008, the report said.