NEW DELHI, Oct 19 � Investigators today got cracking in the Commonwealth Games scam with the ED filing a case for alleged Foreign Exchange violation while Income Tax sleuths swooped down on business premises at 30 places including that of businessman and BJP leader Sudhanshu Mittal, reports PTI.
Simultaneously, the CBI also swung into action looking into separate complaints of corruption in the Games projects.
In another development, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) found discrepancies in tenders and alleged misappropriation amounting to about Rs 8,000 crore.
In the first case to be filed in the scam, the Enforcement Directorate is proceeding against a few officials of the Games� Organising Committee(OC) for alleged violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) as part of its probe into alleged corruption in the Commonwealth Games. The identity of the officials was not known.
The Income Tax department conducted searches in the premises of Mittal and some consortiums in and around Delhi and in Chandigarh and Ludhiana in connection with alleged financial irregularities in works related to the just concluded Games.
More than 200 officials of the I-T department searched about 30 premise of four business consortiums, with a foreign entity in each, to probe contracts worth more than Rs 700 crore which were awarded to execute overlays and other works for the sporting extravaganza.
I-T department sources said the first consortium� PICO international and Deepali Designs� with Mittal as director and his relatives as other stakeholders, had bagged contracts worth about Rs 230 crore.
Mittal, considered to be a close associate of former BJP president Rajnath Singh and late party leader Pramod Mahajan, had taken over the post of director in the company in February this year and the contracts were awarded after that, I-T sources said.
Sources in the department said the I-T probe will specifically look into the contracts awarded by the Games OC and the role of its officials and contractors including charges of bribing.
Official sources said Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also received 20 complaints regarding the Games which also include overlay works. A CBI team had even visited the OC office here on Monday.
�CBI is working in close coordination with the ED in connection with the case registered by the Directorate under FEMA,� sources said.
He said the complaints received by the CBI also include those pertaining to CPWD works, which are being looked into.
�CBI is awaiting reports from CVC, CAG and the I-T department. CAG has its own Central Technical Examiners and will do a financial audit. If something crops up, CBI will move in,� the sources said.
Besides the special Committee instituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to probe the alleged corruption, the Comptroller and Auditor General, Central Vigilance Commission, Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate and the CBI are also probing OC officials.
