India's $10m 'bribe' to win Commonwealth Games
Friday, September 24, 2010
Australia received a $125,000 kickback after India won the Commonwealth Games in a $10 million palm-greasing exercise that has spectacularly backfired.
Delhi sealed the right to host the Games when their delegates emerged at the final presentation in Jamaica and offered all 72 nations $US100,000 (then about $140,000) each for athlete training schemes if they were the successful bidders.
The money, subsequently paid to all nations, was not significant to Australia because it had already decided to vote for India and the payment was not an exceptionally large one.
But for small nations who have minimal interest in the Games, it clinched their vote and India went on to beat Canadian city Hamilton 46-22 in the final poll. Hamilton had offered the nations about $70,000 each.
Hamilton's bid organisers, and many of the nations who voted for them, fired off angry protests about India buying votes and the bad blood generated between several feuding nations still exists.
The Commonwealth Games Association has decided to ban 11th-hour inducements as a consequence of the outrage over India's tactics.
The revelation comes as photos and video footage taken secretly inside the Games compound show just how squalid the athletes' village is.
Undercover reporters from The Australian and The Daily Telegraph reported seeing filthy toilets, widespread flooding and children defecating in the street.
The images raise more questions about India's ability to bring the Games facilities up to scratch before the opening ceremony on October 3.
The India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called an emergency meeting of his ministers last night to deal with the crisis and Commonwealth Games chief Mike Fennell was flying into Delhi early today to meet Singh and Games officials.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit met national team leaders from 25 countries to discuss their concerns about the athletes' village
Australian team general manager Perry Crosswhite said the workforce of cleaners and maintenance staff had increased "ten-fold" in the village yesterday.
"They have elevated their response and brought in people who have the power to make it happen," Crosswhite said.
As well as an army of cleaners, bomb squad officers and dogs have been deployed outside the village as security forces took control, weeks after the original scheduled lockdown deadline.
Labels: Bribe, Commonwealth Games, India
posted @ 8:46 PM,
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