23 crore 'payoff': ED eye on bizmen linked to Suresh Kalmadi

NEW DELHI: Suresh Kalmadi, former chairman of the Commonwealth Games' Organizing Committee (OC), is in for more trouble, with the Enforcement Directorate ( ED) likely to question two Faridabad-based businessmen after finding evidence of an alleged Rs 23-crore payoff made by a Swiss firm.

Officials have established connection between Kalmadi and the two businessmen through their phone records and have found that the firm owned by these businessmen did nothing to be paid by the Swiss firm Swiss Timing Omega. All three — the two businessmen and Kalmadi — are in judicial custody, and the ED is likely to seek court's permission to question them in the coming weeks.

Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed charges against Kalmadi and eight others in connection with irregularities in the Time Scoring and Results (TSR) contract. Subsequently, Kalmadi was arrested and sent to Tihar Jail.

The OC awarded the contract to Swiss Timing Omega by allegedly making concessions in bid terms. Sources said the investigation has revealed that the Swiss firm had outsourced the contract to the Faridabad-based firm and made a payment of Rs 23 crore.

However, officials have found that all the invoices raised by the company were counterfeit.

Phone records of the directors of the Faridabad firm show that they were in touch with Kalmadi and his aide and former OC DG V K Verma. Verma had allegedly changed the eligibility criteria of the TSR deal without adhering to official procedure.