Fennell said cause of huge loss for India in 2010 Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) chairman, Jamaican Mike Fennell has been implicated by the Indian government as the reason for the country’s losing over 240 million rupees (US$5 million) in revenue from broadcast rights for this year’s Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi from October 3-14.
In a report, India’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said the broadcasting rights were awarded at the behest of Mike Fennell, the CGF’s chief executive officer, Mike Hooper, and head of the games organising committee in India, Suresh Kalmadi.
The report added that the firm, Fast Track Sales Ltd, had been appointed as consultant for international broadcasting rights on suggestions made by Fennell, Hooper and Kalmadi without a technical evaluation of the bidders.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) announced in April that it had won the broadcast rights for 2010 Commonwealth Games in the United Kingdom while Network Ten and FOXTEL secured the Australia broadcast rights.
Hooper admitted that the CGF recommended Fast Track to the New Delhi organisers but denied allegations of wrongdoing.
“Although the CGF supported the appointment of Fast Track, it strongly refutes any inference that it interfered in the selection process,” he said. Hooper added that his body never dictated a choice to Indian games organisers.
Observer research shows that the London-based company was also the consultant agency for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia.
This is the latest in a string of corruption scandals to have hit the 2010 Commonwealth Games in the last few months alone.
Just a week ago, Fennell told the Observer that the respective authorities in India, and not his association, would need to investigate allegations of corruption relating to construction projects associated with the 2010 Games, as well as with the staging of the Queen’s Baton Relay launch which took place in London earlier this year.
Three senior officials involved with the Organising Committee were suspended on corruption charges, while a fourth has resigned over a conflict of interest, arising from those allegations.
“This is a matter that has to be investigated. We have gone publicly to say we do not want to be associated with anything that has corruption in any manner or form, but it has to be investigated in India by the authorities there,” Fennell said at the time.
“I don’t think Delhi is the first major Games that’s dogged with a lot of controversies,” he concluded.