Commonwealth Games scam: ED attaches Rs 94.24 lakh worth of assets of firm involved in stadium renovation

NEW DELHI: Nine years after the Commonwealth Games (CWG) were held in India, the Enforcement Directorate Wednesday said it has attached assets worth Rs 94.24 lakh of a company, which was involved in the renovation of two stadiums in Delhi, under a money laundering law.

The federal probe agency issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for the attachment of properties of Raja Aederi Consultants Pvt Ltd.

The firm had taken up a consultancy contract for upgradation and renovation of Shivaji Stadium and Talkatora Stadium, the agency said.

The ED had booked the firm and its directors on the basis of a CBI FIR and charge sheet filed on charges of corruption.

The ED said the company and its director Raja Aederi and Executive Director Uday Shankar Bhat have been found guilty by a trial court here.

Attached assets include property of the company lying with the NDMC and it is worth Rs 94.24 lakh, the agency said.

The company, the agency said, had "submitted false documents to NDMC (New Delhi Municipal Council) in order to obtain four contracts pertaining to upgradation and renovation of Shivaji Stadium and Talkatora Stadium for a work of value of Rs 1 crore (Rs 50 lakh each for both the stadiums)."

"Even though the company did not have the requisite experience, it was awarded the work of Rs 4.25 crore for consultancy of a five-storey building with two basements at both the stadium without going for re-tendering."

"In this manner, the contracts for work amounting to Rs 5.25 crore were wrongly awarded to Ms Raja Aederi Consultants Pvt.Ltd," it said.

Officials said the action to attach the properties under the criminal provisions of the PMLA was undertaken after studying the charge sheet of the CBI in the case and hence it was done after so many years of the games being held in Delhi.

The CWG extravaganza was marred in allegations of blatant corruption in the creation of infrastructure and procurement of items for the 2010 games and multiple agencies such as the CBI, ED and the Income Tax Department had launched separate probes soon after the conclusion of the games.