The chairperson of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, KV Thomas, on Tuesday said that they have found no wrongdoing on the part of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Prime Minister’s Office during the 2010 Commonwealth Games scandal. The committee will submit its report to Parliament on Wednesday. “Nothing that the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or the PMO did was out of the way,” said Thomas, according to IANS.
Thomas said the committee gave Singh the clean chit after going through several reports. “Everything is black and white... There was a meeting chaired by the prime minister, decisions were taken. When the minutes came, the then Sports Ministry said the spirit of the decisions was not carried in the minutes,” he added.
The PAC chairperson also cleared the air about any party biases. He said the 24-member panel had 12 from the Bharatiya Janata Party and only four from the Congress.
The scam around the Commonwealth Games held in Delhi in 2010 had attracted a great deal of media coverage, especially after facilities for sportspersons at the Games were found unsatisfactory. The Central Bureau of Investigation had investigated the scam and filed a chargesheet in connection with it, naming Suresh Kalmadi and others, in 2011.
Kalmadi was accused of giving out inflated contracts for the Games, including one worth Rs 141 crore to Swiss Timing for equipment. The deal was inflated by Rs 95 crore. Other colleagues of Kalmadi, Lalit Bhanot and VK Verma, were also arrested in connection with the case. Sheila Dikshit, who was Delhi chief minister at the time, had refuted allegations of corruption against her government and claimed, “Everything was done keeping in mind the national interest and prestige.”
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