Hyderabad Cricket Association Overpays Gym Equipment Supplier by 882%
Hyderabad: Neck-deep in corruption, the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) has set a dubious record by selecting the sole bidder for the supply and installation of gym equipment by overpaying eight times the market value and giving the deal to a Mumbai-based firm.
Following the opinion of then HCA president Mohammad Azharuddin and vice-president John Manoj, the HCA has begun the process of installing the gyms at the Uppal stadium and the Gymkhana ground.
In doing so, they placed the work order for a sole bidder for supply and installation of equipment at 882 per cent mark-up price, that resulted in a heavy loss to the cricket body.
Instead of looking for a bidder who runs business in Telangana for sales and service, which is mandatory as per the HCA norms, the bosses chose Mumbai-based Body Drench India Pvt Ltd.
According to a forensic audit report, Body Drench India supplied at over Rs 1.74 crore, equipment which was available from a reputed firm in Hyderabad for Rs 17.71 lakh. It amounted to huge over invoicing and caused immense loss to HCA.
During a field investigation, the supplier was not found at the place where its invoice was generated and a company dealing in shipping and import-export clearance service was found in the alternate address.
The HCA has been in news for a series of corrupt practices, including the sale of IPL tickets in block, malpractices in placement of leagues and not following the old format in promotion or demotion of teams, which adversely affected the career of thousands of budding cricketers, which resulted in the High Court ordering a stay on league matches, and a large-scale scam in purchase of the firefighting system, among others.
The forensic audit found several inconsistencies in accounting and stock registers of the HCA. The transaction of payments signed by the HCA president Azharuddin and secretary R. Vijayanand was done the day the Supreme Court appointed former apex court judge Justice L. Nageswara Rao (retired) as a single member committee. “This appears to be a highly irregular and afterthought transaction,” the forensic audit report observed.
The audit on the gym equipment purchase deal found that authorisation and approval matrix and delegation of powers were inconsistent and suspected every possibility of misuse of position during the issue of work order and payments.
Interestingly, the supply and installation of gym equipment was among the 300 high-value transactions of over `10 lakh per vendor per annum carried out in the forensic audit report ordered by Justice Nageswara Rao, He also ensured filing of four criminal cases in the Uppal police station against the accused.
HCA joint secretary T. Basava Raju recently shot off an open letter seeking action against those named in the forensic audit report.
Former HCA secretary Sheshu Narayana said that the forensic audit report was not shared even among the members of the general body and reflected how the corrupt were shielded. He strongly urged the government to initiate action against all the accused by pointing out that no criminal action was taken up even after four cases were filed on the directive of Justice Nageswara Rao.
