Australasian Leisure Management
Mar 18, 2012

IOC won't act against Indian Olympic head

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has stated it will take no action against disgraced Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President Suresh Kalmadi as he has effectively relinquished his role at the organisation.
After serving a nine-month prison sentence Kalmadi was released on bail in January having been arrested in April 2011 on charges of inflating tenders worth millions of dollars for equipment used at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. While Kalmadi has been suspended from India's ruling Congress party he is still listed as IOA President ï¾ a matter the IOC was keen to clear up.
Kalmadi has been replaced by acting President Vijay Kumar Malhotra as head of the IOA, but has not resigned his post and is still the official IOA President. IOC vice-president Thomas Bach said the issue was discussed at the organisation's ongoing Executive Board meeting but no further action would be taken as Kalmadi had effectively suspended himself.
Bach told Reuters "in the end he's not in charge. So we won't take any action."
An Indian state auditor report last year slammed preparations for the Commonwealth Games and criticised organisers and legislators for a lack of due diligence ahead of the event. The Comptroller and Auditor General report, presented to the Indian parliament, revealed that the final cost of the Games was 16 times the original estimate of US$270 million. Auditors also stated that the organising committee was "deeply flawed, riddled with favouritism and bias" and added that "appropriate due diligence was conspicuously absent at all levels".
According to the report, the Games cost $4.1 billion to organise while the revenue generated from the event was only $38 million. Kalmadi served as head of the organising committee for Delhi 2010 before falling foul of the corruption allegations.

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