Another example of DD-Dalmiya `nexus' comes to light

Another example of DD-Dalmiya `nexus' comes to light
RITU SARIN

NEW DELHI, May 13: More instances of what can only be described as the nexus between the International Cricket Council under Jagmohan Dalmiya and Doordarshan are coming to light. After reports of the favours shown by the ICC to private companies for the 1999 ICC Knock Out (mini world cup), now come at least two glaring examples of financial impropriety during the 1998 Wills International Cup in Dhaka.

Documents with The Indian Express show that Doordarshan chose WorldTel for the production contract of the event which was $400,000 higher than that of the next bidder. And last week, DD was slapped an arbitration claim for $1.37 million by Stracon, its partner in the deal.

For the Wills Cup, a $10 million deal for global telecast fee had been signed between Doordarshan and the ICC International Development Ltd. (IDI is a subsidiary of ICC) and subsequently a contract was signed between Doordarshan and Stracon for back-to-back funding.

While the deal was for $10 million, the amount for production and insurance was unspecified.

Worldtel and TWI were the two bidders for the production contract but Doordarshan chose Worldtel despite its bid being initially $300,000 and finally $400,000 higher than TWI's. DD's justification for this was that Worldtel used an 18-camera format against the 12-camera format offered by TWI. Incidentally, the 12-camera format was frequently used for international fixtures by Doordarshan.

In correspondence exchanged between these parties, Dalmiya's name crops up several times, making it evident that he was looking into the fine print of the contracts. One example: Letter dated May 18, 1998 from ICC's managing director David Richards to Stracon.

The subject of higher production costs was raised in a letter written by Stracon's Managing Director, Siddhartha Ray, to Richards, marking a copy to Jagmohan Dalmiya. The letter, dated October 15, 1998, informs the ICC that, ``...the production plan is significantly enhanced from what IDI provided for in the contract, which is costing us $300,000 extra, and in the absence of the production plan approval, we have no option but to go ahead as per the production plan submitted since the event is 10 days away...''

Eventually, it was Stracon which had to pay the $400,000 extra to the IDI.

The second recorded instance is a clear breach of contract between Stracon and Doordarshan, dated June 1 and 4, 1998. Under the agreement, Doordarshan was obliged to provide eight matches of 50 overs a side in the day-night format, against which Stracon was to pay Doordarshan a guarantee of $9.5 million plus actual production and insurance charges.

The problem arose in the rain-washed match played on October 30 between West Indies and Sri Lanka which, according to Stracon, was neither cancelled nor abandoned but was scheduled as a restricted 39-over match. Stracon wrote a letter of protest that very day to Rakesh Bahadur, then the Deputy Director General of Doordarshan, describing it as a ``deliberate breach caused by IDI'' and the following day said that the attempt of Dalmiya to place the onus of the blown insurance cover was not acceptable.

On November 1 1998, Stracon raised a claim of $1.375 million (Rs 5.77 crore) which they said was the value of a single match as per the $10 million insurance agreement they had with Oriental Insurance. The claim notice was sent to Rakesh Bahadur stating that ``Kindly either instruct us in writing to withhold the payment to IDI from their final instalment payable on November 2 or please make arrangement to pay us this sum at the earliest.''

In an earlier letter to Rakesh Bahadur dated October 30, 1998, Stracon clarified that: ``In case Doordarshan fails to get any claim from IDI, it will be Doordarshan's sole responsibility that any claim of ours arising out of this breach is to be settled by Doordarshan from their own sources.''

While Stracon officials were unavailable for comment, Doordarshan officials admit they have received two claims for the amount from Stracon and that they had not yet asked IDI to pay up. In the meantime, last week, Stracon served an arbitration notice for $1.37 million to Doordarshan.