The Hindu : New Delhi News : CAG resumes probe into Games corruption charges

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CAG resumes probe into Games corruption charges

Inspection officials visit stadium to check work payments

New Delhi: A day after the Commonwealth Games got over, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has resumed his assessment of various projects related to the mega sporting event which were mired in allegations of corruption.

The CAG on Friday sent its inspection officials to the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) office located inside S. P. Mookerjee Stadium to check the accounts related to the Games projects.

The audit work for CWG is related to work payments, contracts and leasing of sports equipment among others.

“We have started with the CPWD office inside the S. P. Mookerjee Stadium on Friday. Now that the athletes have vacated the venues, we will gradually start sending our inspection officers to all the stadia,” an official with the auditing watchdog said.

The CAG had begun assessing the Games expenditure in August, but had to stop the audit works in the last week of September as they could not access the CPWD premises.

The official said the CAG had to suspend the audit works for over a fortnight since many CPWD offices are located inside the venues which had the athletes till Thursday.

The official said the biggest venue, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, is yet to be inspected by the CAG and the Government auditor would soon send its inspectors there.

The statutory auditor expects to submit the final report to the Government by January-end, to be presented in the Budget session of Parliament in February.

Over 7,000 athletes and other staff from 71 nations participated in the 12-day Commonwealth Games which ended on Thursday. In August last year the CAG had submitted an evaluation report to the Prime Minister's Office and the Sports Ministry pointing out the slow pace of progress of all the projects connected with the Games. The CAG study last year had also highlighted that all the projects would struggle to finish on time.

As per international guidelines, all CWG projects were to be completed by May 2009 and the last year should have been kept for trial runs.

The CAG audit would look into how the balance between the cost and quality has been maintained and whether there has been any cost overrun.

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