This government has decided to form a committee to probe the financial irregularities of the GCA during the Cong ruled decade of 2001-10. But the manner in which it has been spending from its rich coffers, during the present regime, calls for a probe into its dealings right now . Herald has a copy of the GCA’s bank statements for its principal account, in the first quarter of this year. We present a snapshot of some of the transactions and ask readers to decide whether the Parrikar government should inquire into this too
TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Goa is not on the international cricket map, nor does it host IPL matches, but the spending capacity of the Goa Cricket Association on travel and entertainment from the crores it gets from BCCI annually, for the development of the game, has reached unimaginable proportions, and there is nothing on record to show that they were spent purely on cricket development.
The Herald managed to get access to the main bank account details of the Goa Cricket Associations savings bank account (no: 002794xxxxxxx40), from sources within the GCA. Its contents reveal a big party, perhaps at the BCCI’s expense but used to curry many local favours and for direct benefits to GCA functionaries. Take for example two entries of payments made to Atharva Constructions, owned by GCA treasurer Vilas Desai, contracted to build a cricket ground in Sanguem. Entries show two cheque payments to Atharva Constructions of Rs 7,47, 169 (Rs 7.47 lakhs) and Rs 47, 91,329 (Rs 47.9 lakhs) between December 2013 and April 2014. No other contractors were shortlisted for the project backed by local MLA Subhash Phaldesai, who became a co opted member of the GCA, an instance of how ruling party MLAs and leaders are creeping into this cricket body with a fast treasure chest.
GCA sleeps well: But while the construction of a cricket ground is a legit cricket activity, what you will read now can fall under the realm of any sport and any ball game, but cricket. On January 15 four separate cheque payments were made towards hotels as follows. Two cheques of Rs 3,10,285( Rs 3.1 lakhs) and Rs 1,38,000 (Rs 1.38 lakhs) to Orion Hotel Porvorim, one cheque of Rs 1.17,725 (Rs 1.17 lakhs) to Queeny Hotel Dabolim and RTGS transfer to VRN Hotels of Rs 7,62,289 ( Rs 7.62 lakhs). Another amount of Rs 1,63,869, was paid to Orion Hotels Porvorim on December 17, a month ago making the total amount of three cheques within a month to Orion Rs 6,12,154 9 (Rs 6.12 lakhs). The hotel is right next to the headquarters of the GCA in Porvorim.
Meanwhile, the payments made by GCA on just one day January 15, towards hotels was Rs 13.28 lakhs.
GCA also eats well: And its favorite caterer appears to be Bhingi Caterers, whose profits surely have soared. The following are the cheque payments made to Bhingi Caterers in December and January. Dec 17: Rs 1,63, 869, Dec 26: 1,69,785, January 10: 1,58,466 and January 23: 1,16,020, March 15: Rs 98,000 adding up to Rs 7.06 lakhs. But that’s not all. Two cheques were paid to VM Caterers both dated January 3 of Rs 1,20,158 and Rs 52,955 respectively
Thus in a little over 30 days, the Goa Cricket Association spent Rs 7 lakhs on food. But the hunger did not stop. Two cheques were issued to Vinayak Foods dated February 5, 2014 of the following amounts Rs 3,62,914 and Rs 2,27,687 adding to Rs 5.9 lakhs.
GCA flies well: Meanwhile going by the manner in which GCA spent on travel, it could either be that the team was flying all over the country or their officials were. In fact the invoice of tickets issued by Puroshottam Bhagwan Das Associates in Patto ( the travel agent who was chosen to book tickets for the garbage plant junket to Germany, Austria and Italy for councillors, ministers and journalists) and paid for in February, March and April, should be an important piece of document. The payments made to Puroshottam Bhagwan Das Associates (PBA) travels is as follows February 25: Rs 66,10, 592 ( Rs 66.10 lakhs), March 6 Rs 92,35,680 ( Rs 92.35 lakhs), April 15: 16,92,055 (Rs 16.92 lakhs) adding up Rs 1.75 crores.
GCA talks a lot : Let’s now take a look at the mobile phone bills of the association. On January 9, it paid a cheque of Rs 35,000, on February 5, it paid Rs 34,883 and on April 30, it paid 33,400. It is not known if these were full or part payments and for how many numbers
Of course there were some apparent cricket related spends albeit without following broad render and transparency guidelines followed for other organizations, but not for GCA which are a law onto themselves. A giant LED display screen of 48 square meters was purchased for which a cheque of Rs 1,27, 46,500 (Rs 1.27 crores) was issued. Another major expense that was noticed was a payment of 66.4 lakhs (Rs 66,40,000), dated December 28, 2013 to a party called Sports Turf Engineering. This begs the question, was this an approved payment?
Insiders inform that there were no tenders issued or a short-listing done.
Similarly four cheques of Rs 1 lakh, Rs 50,000, Rs 23.13 lakhs and Rs 11.10 lakhs were issued for kits made by “Googly”and two more cheques adding up to about Rs 19.66 lakhs to Gadget Kits dated January 22.
Parallel to the cheque payments were heavy cash withdrawals of Rs 10 lakhs on April 17 followed by Rs 7 lakhs on April 15. In January too, there are two withdrawals of Rs 10 lakhs and four lakhs.
Based on all of the above, Herald asks the GCA for an explanation for all the massive expenses on hotels, food travel and cash withdrawals, so that the money it receives for the development of the game and its players is not spent on the jet setting life styles of its officials and their political bosses.
