25 Jan 2012

IOC asks for information on India's Kalmadi

6:44 am on 25 January 2012

The International Olympic Committee has requested information on Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi, who's facing allegations of corruption as head of the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games.

Kalmadi, who was released from prison on bail last week after nine months, had been arrested in April 2011 on charges of inflating tenders worth millions of dollars for equipment used at the event.

He is a lawmaker who has been suspended from India's ruling Congress party.

Kalmadi, who has been replaced by acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra as head of the IOA, has not resigned his post and is still listed as its president at the IOA website.

The $NZ 7.4 billion Commonwealth Games were billed as India's answer to the 2008 Beijing Olympics but descended into rows over leaking stadiums, filthy athletes' rooms and corruption scandals.

The next IOC Executive Board meeting will take place in Lausanne, Switzerland on March the 13th to 14th.

The IOC sometimes goes as far as suspending National Olympic Committees for any breach of the movement's domestic autonomy from governments or its Olympic charter.