Indian court upholds charges against Kalmadi, 10 others in 2010 Commonwealth Games graft case

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW DELHI — An Indian court has approved of the charges laid against sports administrator Suresh Kalmadi and 10 others in a graft case related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

Kalmadi and the others were charged with forgery, cheating and conspiracy by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation for illegally awarding a contract to Swiss Timing Omega to install a timing, scoring and results system that caused a loss of more than $18 million to the government.

The Delhi court said on Friday the CBI’s case can proceed.

The court ordered that “the formal framing of charges” be done on Jan. 10.

Among the others charged is Kalmadi’s trusted aide Lalit Bhanot, who was recently elected secretary-general of the Indian Olympic Association in a poll voided by the International Olympic Committee.

Kalmadi decided not to run for this month’s IOA elections after pressure from the IOC, but backed the Bhanot faction which won the elections after most of the opposition withdrew because of an IOC warning against holding the polls.

Kalmadi is out on bail after spending nine months in jail for graft charges related to the Commonwealth Games, which were marred by construction delays, and a budget which ballooned to $15 billion from an initial estimate of $412 million.

05:15ET 21-12-12