Published: Dec 30, 2015, 02:54 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 30, 2015, 04:24 PM (IST)
New Delhi: Suspended BJP MP Kirti Azad on Wednesday targetted more politicians, including party MP and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Anurag Thakur, involved in cricket governance and claimed the SFIO probe report had recommended “prosecution” of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) affairs. He also appeared to support Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s allegation that a DDCAofficial had sought sexual favours from a woman if she wanted her son to be part of its cricket team, saying it was not a new thing and he had raised a similar issue in 2007. At a press conference here, Azad quoted from the report of Serious Fraud Investigation Office, which had gone into the Delhi cricket body affairs, to claim that it had recommended “prosecution” of Jaitley among others but it has not been done in the last three years. ALSO READ: Kirti Azad demands CBI probe into DDCA corruption
“Under the Companies Act, 1956, all the directors were to be assigned particular roles and if they are not, then the term (for action against them) is compunding. 27 executive members, including Jaitley, were not assigned any role. 24 of them including Jaitley did not compound. “So SFIO recommended that under Section 5 G of the Companies Act, the Registrar of Companies should prosecute them for not compounding. It shows the BCCI is above law. It has been three years since the recommendation but they have not been prosecuted,” he said. Demanding government oversight of sports administration, he blamed “seven-eight politicians affiliated to the BCCI for the failure of then Sports Minister Ajay Maken in pushing a bill in this regard when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power.
Hitting back at Jaitley who had called him a “Trojan horse”, he said, “these were the Trojan horses who did not let it come. Trojan horses in and outside the Cabinet and outside. I hope it does come. I just love that man (Maken).” Asked to name these politicians, he named Jaitley, Thakur, Rajeev Shukla, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Farooq Abdullah and Praful Patel. All of them were then, and most still are, involved in cricket administration except Patel, who is All India Football Federation President. Referring to Thakur, the three-time MP from Darbhagna said, “You cannot wear two caps. This is a conflict of interest. Either you are in Parliament or you are associated with a sports association.” Azad also cited NCA chief Sharad Pawar, who has been extensively involved in sports administration, as he demanded that politicians should not be allowed to be in sports bodies. ALSO READ: Kirti Azad: I want to expose DDCA corruption scam
Azad told a press conference that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had written to the DDCA on December 12, seeking its audit report between 2013-14 and alleged that such tactics were meant to delay the inquiry. Jaitley and DDCA have denied his charges with the former referring him as a “Trojan horse”, a term used by him time and again to hit back at the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader. BJP has charged him with “anti-party activities” over his consistent attack on Jaitley over the alleged financial irregularities in the DDCA when he headed it. More PTI NAB
