October 19, 2010

Tax Raids on Commonwealth Game Contractors, Nicolas Duncan

The Games, which ended last week in Delhi, were tarnished by extremely high expenditure figures and claims of corruption.  Income tax officials raided the offices of contract companies in and around Delhi on Tuesday, claiming they seized documents relevant to any work associated with the Games.  The raids in Delhi came from the main opposition party, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), demanded a parliamentary investigation.  The BJP claims to have evidence of violations committed at the government level.  More than 200 tax investigators in India have searched the offices of numerous contractors used in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games.  The BJP says millions of dollars were siphoned off from the Games budget, which reached a record setting high for a games budget of 6 billion dollars, from an original estimate of $450m.  The Congress party-led government has already set up an inquiry, led by its urban development minister, into the event, claiming anyone found guilty will be punished.