Games scam: Key QBR suspect records statement with Scotland Yard

Eight months after he assured the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), London-based businessman Ashish Patel, a key suspect in the alleged irregularities in the award of the Commonwealth Games (CWG)'s Queen's Baton Relay (QBR) contracts that the agency is probing, recorded his statement with United Kingdom(UK)'s Scotland Yard.

Eight months after he assured the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), London-based businessman Ashish Patel, a key suspect in the alleged irregularities in the award of the Commonwealth Games (CWG)'s Queen's Baton Relay (QBR) contracts that the agency is probing, recorded his statement with United Kingdom(UK)'s Scotland Yard.

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Two of Patel's firms — AM Films Limited and AM Car and Van Hire — had bagged the QBR contracts worth several crores of rupees.

While AM Films Limited had installed three video screens near Buckingham Palace, AM Car and Van Hire had provided buses and taxis for the event held in October 2009. The two contracts were allegedly awarded at exorbitant rates and without following regular tendering processes at the behest of a few former top officials of the CWG Organising Committee.

"Ashish Patel has finally recorded his statement with the UK authorities," confirmed a CBI source.

He said, "The probe in the QBR case is almost complete and we were waiting for Patel's statement to file the chargesheet. Ashish Patel’s statement will beef up the evidence against the role of a few former top Organising Committee officials in facilitating the contracts' issuance."

Since last April, Patel had allegedly twice assured the CBI about recording his statement — voluntarily as per UK laws — with the Scotland Yard for the CBI as reported by the HT on January 5. The CBI was in touch with the Scotland Yard to ensure he did.