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| June 12, 2000 | ||
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CRICKET Bindra reopens an old controversy before the CBI. ICC chief Dalmiya is accused of bias in awarding the contract for the 1996 World Cup inaugural ceremony to an Italian firm. By Sayantan
Chakravarty The latest controversy Bindra has re-opened goes back to the 1996 World Cup, jointly hosted by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Cricket boards of the three countries pooled resources into the Pak-India-Lanka Committee (PILCOM), of which Dalmiya was convener-secretary. The opening ceremony of the World Cup was held at the Eden Gardens, Calcutta, on February 11, 1996. The next morning's newspapers described it as "disastrous", "laughable" and "disappointing". A much-hyped laser show conceptualised by Italian impresario Gianfranco Lunetta was undone by the breeze drifting in from the river Hooghly, an everyday occurrence that wouldn't have taken a meteorologist to predict. The agreement between PILCOM and Lunetta's company Half Moon was signed on August 5, 1995. Lunetta is described in it as "one of the most experienced and acclaimed persons in this field". It was a reputation torn to shreds at the Eden Gardens six months later. Bindra's argument is that the reputation itself was highly exaggerated. As per the agreement, PILCOM was to pay Half Moon $288,000 (Rs 1.26 crore). Seventy per cent of the money was released before the event. The final $86,400 was paid on February 29, 1996. Bindra says he had objected at that point and sought invocation of a vital clause in the agreement: "If for any reason (other than default on the part of PILCOM) the company fails to produce, deliver and present the said hi-tech show as stated in terms of the specific requirements of PILCOM, the company shall be bound to refund the entire amount ... paid by PILCOM ... with interest thereon." Dalmiya, Bindra told the CBI, rejected the idea. Half Moon and Lunetta were paid the entire sum, failure or no failure. How strong were Lunetta's credentials? Why was he handpicked for a job PILCOM had, literally, the world to choose from? London-based Laser Creations International (LCI) co-produced the Eden Gardens event with Half Moon. When contacted, Marlyn Weekes, LCI's managing director, told India Today, "Lunetta had only put up a fashion show in Italy. His experience was in the fashion world, not in lasers." So how did Dalmiya and PILCOM discover Lunetta? Bindra has told the CBI that Lunetta was introduced to Dalmiya by his (Dalmiya's) friend, associate and, later, business partner Betty Mahindra. The Bangalore-based Mahindra is Dalmiya's partner in a firm called Inspiration Clothes & U -- it runs a garment unit in Yelahanka, near Bangalore, and a fashion studio in Gurgaon, near Delhi. When contacted, Mahindra was wary. "Just because Dalmiya is part of my company, I wouldn't like to be part of this muck flying around. I don't like cricket. I don't care about all that is being said ... a whole lot of rubbish." She admitted, however, that, "Yes, I did introduce Lunetta to PILCOM. He was known to me ... It's an old story." Mahindra also admits to introducing
another friend to Dalmiya and PILCOM. The person in question is M.N.
Chittiappa, a businessman seen in the same social circles as Mahindra in
Bangalore. Given this background, the PILCOM-Half Moon agreement is a most curious document. Dalmiya signed on PILCOM's behalf. The other designated signatory, Arif Abbasi of Pakistan -- the PILCOM treasurer -- did not put pen to paper. Bindra has told the CBI that, in 1996, Abbasi told him he (Abbasi) did not sign because the "deal was not cent per cent clean". The two witnesses to the PILCOM-Half Moon -- in effect, the Dalmiya-Lunetta -- agreement were U.N. Banerjee, Dalmiya's personal lawyer, and rank outsider Chittiappa. The agreement between LCI and PILCOM, reached on October 22, 1995, followed an identical pattern. The sole witness here was Banerjee. LCI was to provide the equipment and systems for the function and work "under the direct control and supervision of Lunetta". In retrospect, Weekes admits "the show was a terrible disaster". She does express surprise though as to "how Lunetta got the job, considering that he had never worked on a laser show before, evident from the very first meeting with the man". Apparently, he couldn't even optimally use the equipment that LCI provided him. Abbasi, who could hold the key to this
mystery, is reticent. "The event was in Calcutta. I knew very little
about it. It was Dalmiya's brainchild," he says. Bindra has told the
CBI that he sought to probe the "one-man deal" and had asked
Dalmiya for details of payments made. He says he got no answers.
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Inderjit
Singh Bindra Versus Jagmohan Dalmiya is the closest cricket will come to a
Punch and Judy show. When Bindra, the former BCCI president, recently
visited the CBI, he handed the agency 360 pages of copious documentation.
Some of it had only a tangential link with the match-fixing scandal -- and
centred on the regime of Dalmiya, once Bindra's friend but now his sworn
enemy, as president of the International Cricket Council (ICC).