Under fire, Kalmadi speaks out on spend

The man in the eye of the raging controversy over the Commonwealth Games, Suresh Kalmadi, says he’s “had enough” of accusations of impropriety being levelled at him personally and the Organising Committee as a whole. Kalmadi speaks to Kadambari Murali Wade.Full interview | Four charges and the defence

The man in the eye of the raging controversy over the Commonwealth Games, Suresh Kalmadi, says he’s “had enough” of accusations of impropriety being levelled at him personally and the Organising Committee (OC) as a whole.

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“It’s becoming too much,” he told HT in an exclusive interview on Wednesday. (Read full intervew)

Taking up the issues raised by the Central Vigilance Commission, Kalmadi said the perception that he controlled most of the money for the Games was “very wrong” “There’s nothing about me in the CVC report,” he noted. “It’s all about construction activity. We (Organising Committee) are not named in the report We have nothing to do with tenders, etc.”

While Kalmadi admitted Australian firm SMAM was being given a commission for funds generated for the Games even through public sector units (see graphic), he said they got from PSUs only 50 per cent of the money earned through private companies, and there were no donations. He said he expected more sponsorship to come in anytime now.