Massive irregularities in awarding of certain contracts involving foreign players, as detected by the investigating agencies, has forced the Organising Committee (OC) of the Commonwealth Games, to stop payments to them.
According to sources, the payments have been stopped as the agencies are probing the circumstances under which the companies concerned were awarded the contracts and whether there was any tax evasion by the foreign companies.
Sources said, “The foreign companies, whose partial payments have been stopped, include two Australia-based companies Spectak (international creative consultant for the opening ceremony of the CWG; contract worth `11 crores) and Howard & Sons (the company which provided pyrotechnic control experts; contract worth `13.5 crores)”. Besides, the OC has also stopped partial payment of London-based Event Knowledge Services (EKS), which had the contract for CWG project monitoring (worth `31 crores) and an Indian company which was involved on the images depicted on the aerostat (contract worth `2.5 crores), sources said.
The OC has stopped the payment of the last instalment (nearly `1 crore) to Spectak, sources said, adding that the OC is also considering seizing performance guarantee of `60 lakh given by this company at the time of signing agreement with the OC. As far as contract with the Howard & Sons is concerned, the OC is suspecting the possibility of tax evasion by the Australian firm, sources said, adding that its last instalment of `1.7 crore has been stopped by the organisers.
“The appointment of the EKS as consultant by the OC members is already under the scanner of the central probe agencies. Two instalments of its contract for project monitoring, which is around `4 crores, have been stopped by the agency. There is also a possibility of tax evasion by the company, which is being probed by the Central investigative agencies”, sources said.
OC sources said that around `2.5 crore has already been paid to the Indian company, which was responsible for beaming images on the aerostat.
However, `60 lakh of its payment has been stopped. Its contract with the OC is also being scrutinised by the auditors, sources said.