Oz firms for legal action against Delhi CWG organizers over unpaid millions

MELBOURNE - Australian companies are planning to take legal action against the organizers of the New Delhi Commonwealth Games, claiming they are still owed millions for their work and are being blocked from taking their equipment out of India.

Australian Ric Birch, the executive producer of the Delhi opening and closing ceremonies, said about 15 companies are affected.

“We did the job for the sake of the Commonwealth Games and for the sake of India,” the Daily Telegraph quoted Birch, as telling the Associated Press.

“We all had government contracts and fully expected that those contracts would be honoured. I thought we could trust them. As things have turned out, we can’t. They haven’t returned calls, haven’t paid their bills, haven’t answered e-mails. They haven’t done anything,” said Birch, who directed ceremonies at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles (1984), Barcelona (1992) and Sydney (2000) and the 2006 Turin Winter Games.

Birch said his company, Spectack, is still owed the final 15 per cent of his Delhi contract, or “hundreds of thousands” of dollars, that was due on October 31.

The total amount at stake among the 15 companies is “several million dollars in fees and tens of millions in the value of the equipment that is just sitting there”, Birch said.

Repeated attempts were made to reach top Commonwealth Games organising committee officials including Suresh Kalmadi, Lalit Bhanot and A.K. Mattoo. Calls were not answered.

Hardest hit are some of the companies that brought in lighting, audio, projection, communication and other equipment, including firms from Australia, Britain, Italy, Sweden and Germany.

The companies have been unable to re-export their material, which remains stored in freight containers. (ANI)