CAG to scrutinize Agarwal report

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) will examine allegations of scams in telecast of sporting events on Doordarshan (DD) which includes all those deals included in the report submitted by Arun Agarwal. Prasar Bharati chief executive officer RR Shah said this was conveyed in a letter sent to Doordarshan and added that this showed that there was no attempt to stall inquiry or shelve the Agarwal report. The report was submitted to the Prasar Bharati board last May.

Arun Agarwal said in a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday that the top officials of the International Cricket Council (ICC) did a mistake by giving a clean chit to the ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya. The ICC chief executive, Dave Richards, had said earlier that Dalmiya was not part of the negotiations in the TV rights.

He released notings of a Prasar Bharati file in the news conference which was signed by the deputy director-general (DDG) of Doordarshan on March 10, 1998. Showing the notings the financial expert said ``Where is the doubt that Dalmiya is not part of the negotiations. The notings on the file make it amply clear that he was part of the negotiations.'' Agarwal added that the document clearly shows that "Dalmiya was part of the negotiations and that Richards referred Dalmiya for negotiations with the officials. Dalmiya also determined the revenue sharing formula and accepted the revised bid offer on behalf of the ICC."

The notings which were released on May 10 comes in the wake of the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, Lord MacLaurin's statement in a British newspaper last Sunday that the document would be circulated to members of the ICC board. "We need to see the report and I understand it is on its way... (if) it is irrefutable evidence that the press and public have been misinformed, then we have a problem", MacLaurin said."

The report submitted by Agarwal was made public earlier at a press meet in New Delhi on April 27. It contained serious allegations on the financial loss incurred by DD because of certain deals over the telecast rights of the ICC knock-out tournament in Dhaka in 1998. Agarwal was appointed by the Prasar Bharati to examine the dealings between the national premier television channel and the sports consortium. The resultant loss was due to mismanagement by some members of DD and the sports consortium.

The findings of the report says that Doordarshan did not earn a single rupee from nine events including Wimbledon, World Cup soccer, French Open and the Dhaka tournament which were telecast live in 1998 and had in fact lost money.