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Hindustan Times
03-06-2025
- Hindustan Times
13 years on, CBI traces fugitive in CWG case to French village
Derek Phillips, a former senior functionary of the Commonwealth Games 2010 organising committee, under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and absconding for the past 13 years, has been tracked down in a small commune in the southwestern region of France, according to agency officials who said an extradition request is now being sent to the French government. The Global Operations Centre (GOC) of CBI recently located Phillips, a French national -- the deputy director general, accreditation/Games Management System (GMS), for the 2010 games in Delhi - in Gaillan en Medoc in France's Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, said one CBI officer who asked not to be named. The anti-corruption agency registered a case -- apart from 18 other first information reports (FIRs) filed around that time to probe CWG related irregularities -- on May 31, 2012 to investigate contract worth ₹68.40 lakh for supply of lanyards to be used for accreditation passes for the games. Phillips was named as an accused in this case, along with RK Sacheti (then joint director general, coordination and government relations), other officials of the organising committee and a private firm, Tristar Enterprises and its representative Vishal Ahuja. It was alleged that Phillips, in connivance with other officials, manipulated the tender process to ensure that the contract was awarded to Tristar at exorbitant rates. The irregularities were detailed by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) as well in its report saying that a supply order for 1.5 lakh lanyards was placed in July 2010 at a total cost of ₹0.68 crore, out of which 48,040 lanyards costing ₹0.22 crore were never used. Besides, the CAG report stated that 492 persons who had not received security clearance were incorrectly listed in the data for the Integrated Security System, which indicated that the accreditation system was not followed strictly. After investigating the irregularities, the officer cited above said, 'we filed a charge sheet against Phillips and others in August 2013 but he had left India long before that'. Calling him a fugitive, a second CBI officer said 'Phillips could not be traced all these years so a non-bailable warrant was issued against him in November 2020'. 'We have already prepared a detailed extradition request against him and it will be sent to the French authorities in the next few days. We already have an extradition treaty with France since 2003 and we are hoping for cooperation,' he added. Officials said they will request the French government to first arrest Phillips so that formal extradition proceedings can begin and he can soon be brought to India to face trial here. The CWG games took place between October 3 and 14, 2010 but allegations of corruption triggered a huge political uproar in the country, leading to filing of several criminal and money laundering cases against top officials of organising committee (OC) including its chairman, Suresh Kalmadi, a Congress leader. The alleged corruption in the organisation of the Games -- Delhi was ruled by a Congress government then -- became a talking point, along with the alleged corruption in the allotment of telecom spectrum and coal mining licences, in the 2014 national elections. Recently, in April, a Delhi court accepted the closure report filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in one of the cases against Kalmadi.
Mint
28-04-2025
- Mint
Delhi court formally closes ED investigation of 2010 Commonwealth Games money laundering case
A court in Delhi has formally closed the investigation of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the alleged money laundering linked to the Commonwealth Games 2010 (CWG). The court has accepted the closure report submitted by the federal agency, thereby putting down the curtains on the years-long enquiry. The court formally accepted the closure report of the ED concerning Suresh Kalmadi, the former Chairman of the Organizing Committee, and Lalit Bhanot, the then Secretary General, as well as others. The acceptance of the closure report brings to end the money laundering angle in the alleged scam, which reportedly took place 15 years ago during the 2010 commonwealth games. (This is a developing story. Check back for updates) First Published: 28 Apr 2025, 07:27 PM IST
