Defying party chief Amit Shah’s order, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)MP Kirti Azad on Sunday came out with a new video alleging corruption in Delhi District and Cricket Association(DDCA).
Addressing the media, Azad said, “DDCA gave money to a lot of companies and nature of work was never told. They were fake companies.”
Before starting the address, Azad clarified that he is not against any individual, but corruption.
He claimed that a ‘Wikileaks 4 India’ investigation revealed that DDCA awarded contracts to fake companies. The sting operation claimed that 14 companies which got contracts from the DDCA were registered on fake addresses around Delhi.
Azad has alleged that DDCA inflated prices of the items and services that it procured. He also alleged that DDCA did not float tenders before awarding contracts and has demanded an investigation by ED and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence into the irregularities.
He began the press conference by playing an audio-video footage. “The addresses mentioned in DDCA bills are wrong. Companies were paid through cash not cheque. Laptops’ rent was Rs 16,000 a day and printers’ rent was Rs 3000 a day. BCCI made payments without any investigation,” revealed video.
Video also mentioned the role of VK Agarwal & co and Engineers Pvt Ltd.
The Delhi government ordered an inquiry into the alleged financial irregularities of the state cricket body. The order came minutes after cricketer-turned-politician Kirti Azad accused the DDCA of massive irregularities, including giving contracts to fake companies and paying them crores in cash.
The inquiry commission will be headed by former Solicitor General of India Gopal Subramaniam, tweeted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose party has accused Mr. Jaitley of corruption and insisted that he resign or be removed to clear the decks for an investigation.
Absolving Mr. Jaitley, the DDCA said action has been taken against its former chief Sneh Bansal, whom it accused of embezzlement.
In a tweet, Mr. Azad had earlier taken a dig at the Finance Minister, who had reportedly called him a “Trojan horse”. “Not a Trojan horse but Achilles heel; wait till I unmask the ‘behroopiya’ (chameleon),” Mr. Azad tweeted. The former cricketer also refuted Mr. Jaitley’s reported charge that he had met Sonia Gandhi with a plan to target him.
Finance Minister Jaitley, who was headed DDCA for 13 years till 2013, has rejected the allegations, calling them a propaganda technique of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to deflect attention from CBI raid on an officer close to him.
In a Facebook post, Mr. Jaitley said, “The Serious Fraud Investigation Office, under the UPA regime, investigated and could not find a shred of evidence against me.”
Without naming Bihar MP Kirti Azad, Jaitley said, “One member of Parliament wrote to the Congress government. He met Sonia Gandhi and they said we will fix Jaitley. So they referred the case to the Serious Frauds Office. In 2013, the SFIO gave a report saying there are procedural irregularities in the company, no case of fraud is made out. The whole issue ended, but it has become a political controversy now.”
