Unpaid bills and anger one year after Delhi Games

One year after the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, its organisers languish in jail on corruption charges and foreign companies are fighting legal battles over millions of dollars in unpaid bills. The Games, involving 71 nations, were meant to showcase India's status as an emerging global power but the much-heralded event instead left memories of shoddy venues, empty stands and massive budget overruns. Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the Delhi 2010 organising committee, has been in custody in a Delhi prison since April awaiting trial over allegedly fraudulent contracts. His two top deputies are also behind bars having been refused bail ahead of the trial, which is expected to start next month. Despite delayed preparations, poor planning and the collapse of a footbridge under construction, the 11 days of sports last October were held without major problems after a last-minute rush by local and foreign contractors. But many companies have since been involved in bitter struggles over bills that were never paid or allegations of incompetence and corruption that have swept them up into India's tortuous legal system. Six Australian contractors are claiming a total of $22 million in unpaid debts, sources told AFP, while Dutch sports information company Infostrada says it is still to be paid $618,000. Britain-based SIS Live, which ran international broadcasting of the Games, says it is owed $23 million withheld after a probe accused it of contract irregularities. The company, which has been backed by the British High Commission (embassy), dismisses the investigation as full of "misrepresentations, inaccuracies, false assumptions and unjustified conclusions". "In India, SIS have been treated as criminals and denied their legitimate payment," a spokesman told AFP. "This, quite simply, is wrong, unjust and unjustifiable." Andrew Howard, an Australian whose company provided firework displays for the opening and closing ceremonies, has lobbied organisers for a year but told AFP that his firm was still owed $130,000. "We produced spectacular opening and closing ceremony displays to which we received worldwide acclaim," Howard said in an email. He said no government official had ever contacted his company to address complaints that the Games organisers "mismanaged the contract and had a massive impact on our business". Essential equipment that was needed for other global events after the Games was stuck in Indian customs for 93 days, incurring huge extra costs, Howard added. Steve Dettre, managing director of Infostrada, told AFP that Commonwealth Games organisers had reacted to requests for payment by smearing his company's work. "The response of the organisers is that we did not perform up to their expectations," he told AFP. "They have made all sorts of crazy claims." The experience of the Delhi Games should make other foreign firms think twice before doing business in India, he added. Swiss Timing, the hugely respected timekeeper at a host of Olympics Games, has also repeatedly denied paying kickbacks in accusations that are central to the scandal that put the Delhi 2010 organisers in jail. Defiant Indian organisers insist that all payment issues are being sorted out. "There are seven or eight foreign companies which have made claims. We are strictly going by a case-by-case basis and examining each one of them very carefully," Jarnail Singh, CEO of the organising committee, told AFP. Singh said he looked back on the event as a great success, pointing out that the Games had generally run smoothly despite cynicism from more developed countries. In Delhi itself, many residents remember the event for poor ticket sales, its ballooning budget -- which tripled to at least $6 billion -- and soaring stadiums that have seldom been used since the action finished. Vijay Kumar Malhotra, an opposition politician and acting president of the Indian Olympic Association, this week slammed the absence of any "sporting legacy". He said the main stadium, which was totally renovated for the Commonwealth Games, had been virtually abandoned since the closing ceremony and was now the "most expensive junkyard in the world". "The other expensive stadiums are lying idle and are locked and keys are with the government," he said. "They are becoming breeding grounds for mosquitoes and may turn out to be major health hazards." One hockey practice stadium had missed the Games' deadline and was still uncompleted today, he said, while the athletes' village had been left to rot instead of being converted for private buyers. Before the Games, some Indians talked of how the event would lead to a bid to host the Olympics but such ambitions have now been put aside. "The Games were ill-conceived and ill-planned," said Anupama Jha of the anti-corruption organisation Transparency International. "They have tarnished India's image in the eyes of the international community forever."