Kalmadi Arrested – Is it a case of too little too late?

Suresh Kalmadi has finally been arrested. It feels like eternity since the Common Wealth Games (CWG) scam came to light and Kalmadi was named the prime accused. But is it a case of too little too late? Could this debacle have been averted and if yes, how?

To answer these questions we will have to do some sleuthing into Kalmadi’s background and see if we can find any tell tale signs of corruption, incompetence or any other traits that could help us foretell his current actions.

Kalmadi has had a very illustrious career. The highlights of his career have been listed below

Career with IAF	1965 – 1971: Served in the Indian Air Forces and also participated in the Indo-Pak war.
Political Career	1978 – 1980: President, Maharashtra Pradesh Youth Congress 1982 – 1995: Member of Parliament 16 Sept 1995 – to 15 June 1996: Minister of State for Railways 1996 – 1997: Member of Parliament 11th Lok Sabha 1998 – 2004: Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha 1998 – 2008: Member, Union Public Undertakings Committee From 2004 till today: Member of Parliament
Work profile in sports field	1996 to 2004: President, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) 2004 to 2008: Reelected unopposed 2008 to 2012: Reelected unopposed 2001 till date: President, Asian Athletics Association (AAA) 1989 – 2006: President, Athletics Federation of India (AFI) 2001 till date: Council Member, International Association of Athletic Federations 2003: Chairman – Afro – Asian Games, Hyderabad
*Kalmadi’s detailed career profile: http://bit.ly/f2GPpb

It’s pretty hard for me to believe that Kalmadi got up one morning and decided to scam the nation to the tunes of thousand of crore. The Common Wealth Games execution was abundant with incompetence and corruption and I am sure Kalmadi’s career did show these traits.

[i]The first signs of lack of execution were shown by Kalmadi during his tenure as the Minister of State Railways, in relation to the Karjat-Panvel rail link. The project was launched on January 29, 1996, with an initial provision of Rs 12 crore as against the total estimated cost of Rs 89 crore. However, not even 10 per cent of the budget allocation was actually spent on the work.

[ii]In August 2007 the Suresh Kalmadi lead Olympic Association announced a letter of intent from Formula One Management to promote and back the Indian Grand Prix. In October, 2007, the Formula One Administration paid Rs 1600 crore to JPSK Sports Private Limited to build an F1 track in Noida. Summer Kalmadi, son of Suresh Kalmadi has a 13% stake in JPSK.

[iii]In 2009, a Delhi court granted bail to Suresh Kalmadi’s aide Sanjay Mahendroo in the case of alleged financial bungling in holding Queen’s Baton Relay in London in 2009.

[iv]In August 2010, documents accessed by CNN-IBN raise questions over the legitimacy of the Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee (CWG OC) headed by Indian Olympic Association President Suresh Kalmadi. They indicate that the original bid documents submitted by the OC to 72 countries of the Commonwealth in 2003 were tampered with.

As can be seen Kalmadi’s career was not as illustrious after all. It has been replete with examples of lack of competence and acts of corruption. Kalmadi had used his seat to influence contracts in favor of close and dear ones. Having been able to get away with it built a sense of arrogance and lead to the CWG scam that cost the Indian exchequer millions of dollars.

The question to consider is whether we should hold only Kalmadi responsible for the CWG scam. What about the government that let Kalmadi’s actions go unchecked? Could the CWG scam have been avoided if the government had seen the tell tale sign in Kalmadi’s professional career?

If the answer to the above questions is ‘Yes’ then wouldn’t the same set of checks into an employee’s professional life help avoid corporate scams? Think about it. In a smaller microcosm of the corporate world unbiased pre and post employment checks could help provide the required information that can help separate a good employee from a bad one. The lack of an employee background check and the cost of the resulting repercussions is anyone’s guess.

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[i] http://www.indianexpress.com/ie/daily/19980714/19550914.html

[ii] http://www.f1toto.com/f1circuits.php?id=73

[iii] http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/cwg-scam-court-grants-bail-to-kalmadi-aide-mahendroo-79511

[iv] http://ibnlive.in.com/news/cwg-bid-tampered-to-let-kalmadi-be-chairman/129121-3.html