THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Expressing anguish over the unnecessary speculation of all round corruption in the conduct of the 35th National Games, a top official Friday said they are prepared to face any sort of probe from any agency.
"The need of the hour is, in another eight days, the event will come to a close. My request is please refrain from speculations and just wait for the event to end. All I request is a few days, then we will take any questions and are prepared to face any probe," National Games chief executive Jacob Punnoose said.
The Games began Jan 31 and before and since that day, the media has been abuzz with reports of allegations of corruption.
"See, the event began Jan 31 and till this moment, there has not been a single complaint on the actual conduct of the event from any quarters. Each and every event is going on very smoothly," added Punnoose, a former director general of police.
Since his retirement around two years back, Punnoose has been overseeing the entire operations of the event.
He pointed out that there is needless comparison with the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in Delhi.
"In no other place, an event like this happened with 25 new venues being built or fully refurbished," said Punnoose.
"The entire budget for these was fixed in 2011 and it was Rs.434 crores. Another Rs.126 crores has been set aside for the actual conduct of the event, of which Rs.15 crores has been set aside for the opening and closing ceremony, whereas in the Commonwealth Games the expense was Rs.240 crores for the opening ceremony. So where is the comparison?"
He also said that at the end of every month, its website carries a full statement of accounts for the month.
"There is a statutory audit and an internal audit going on and once the Games are over, the entire thing will be loaded on to our site. In our office there is not a single secret file," Punnoose said.
"Please end this smear campaign as it has reached a level when anyone associated with this event is seen as a looter. Please wait for a few more days, just a few days."