Trouble is brewing for Indian Olympic Association treasurer Anandeshwar Pandey, whose roles in the Handball Federation of India have come under the scanner.
S.Paneerselvam, a retired IPS (Indian Police Service) officer, is chairman of a committee which has been appointed by the HFI to probe the charges which have been levelled against Pandey.
There are allegations of financial irregularities in the HFI for the 2016-19 period, where Pandey, despite not being treasurer in certain periods, has been accused of issuing cheques. There are also complaints of the balance sheets having been cooked up.
The letter written by Paneerselvam, has also been marked to other members of the probe committee. They are P.E.R. Mangala Suvigaran, an advocate, Nagendra, advisor, HFI, and SM Bali, CEO of the handball federation (HFI).
The letter signed by Paneerselvam also makes a mention of Pandey misusing his power and giving affiliation to some academies “for unlawful gains.”
It is also baffling to note the HFI (under Pandey) has accounted for an expenditure of over Rs 20 lakhs in the 2016-17 balance sheet for the Rio Olympics. For the record, no handball team or HFI officials travelled to Rio de Janeiro during the Olympic Games in 2016.
Pandey was asked to appear before the appointed committee today but he has apparently asked for time till Monday (September 28), said sources.
Meanwhile, on September 24, Pandey, secretary of the HFI, has written a letter to his president stating “external factors are trying to sabotage the development of handball in India. I urge you to weed out these factors for the betterment of the game.”
Pandey’s letter also talks of the proposed handball league which has been postponed due to Covid-19. Pandey has pleaded to appear before the EC (executive committee) and “discuss and sort out the complaints against me.”
It will be interesting to see how HFI president M.Ramasubramaniam who has replied to Pandey, will sort out the matters
Meanwhile, word has it that the probe committee will probably meet on Monday via video conferencing to take up the issues which have been raised against Anandeshwar Pandey.
At a time when all the National Sports Federation in India stand de-recognised, it is bizarre to what levels governance has fallen. If there are charges of corruption in one federation, others are dealing with serious governance matters. And this, with just less than nine months left for the Tokyo Olympics.
