Aus firms vow to pursue non-payment of dues by CWG OC: report

Melbourne, Feb 2 (PTI) Australian firms, whose dues werewithheld by the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee due to"under performance and contractual obligations", have vowedthat they would pursue the matter by means including legal.

The companies rebutted the CWG OC chief executive JarnailSingh''s claim yesterday that the payments were not made due tounder performance and said that they have exceeded theircontractual obligations.

The Australian firms Spectak Production run by Ric Birch,who reportedly threatened a multi-million dollar law suitagainst the CWG OC, the Swiss-based EKS, owned by anAustralian Craig McLatchey, and Greg Bowman''s Great Big Eventsare among those which have not been paid in full, the ''SydneyMorning Herald'' reported.

Birch said he would pursue full payment and that thematter was in the hands of his lawyers.

"At no time during the term of the contract did (Gamesorganisers) mention any dissatisfaction and waited two monthsafter the Games, and two months after final payment was due,to announce that Spectak was ''not up to the mark''," he wasquoted as saying by the newspaper.

"The response is ridiculous, but then so many of theirdecisions were," he said.

McLatchey said his firm EKS had fulfilled its contractualobligations.

"EKS consistently outperformed the scope of work requiredand the quality of the work was widely acknowledged within theorganising committee and other entities. The organisingcommittee continues to act in a manner which is withoutprecedent and brings tremendous discredit to India," he said.

Greg Bowman, chief executive of Great Big Events, whichhandled the sporting events, said, "They were extremelydelighted with the result, we went way over and above thecontract. And we had good relations with the people we workedwith, that''s why this is so disappointing."

The newspaper said the CWG organisers are refusing to pay178 million rupees (USD 3.85 million).

EKS, which provided project management and workforcetraining, is owed more than USD 500,000 while Great Big Eventshas not been paid USD 100,000, according to the report.

The newspaper quoted Jarnail as saying that a committeehad decided how much of each contract should be paid out,based on the amount of work done.

"Some contracts were not delivered upon during the Games.

We formed a committee for this which looked at the details ofthe contracts, what was to be delivered under that contractand what was actually delivered.

"Based on reports prepared by people organising andrunning the Games, the committee has reached the position thatfor these companies some payment should be withheld," he said.

"We are being very open with our dealings, verytransparent. We have written to those companies explaining ourdecision. They can respond to us, let them tell us where weare wrong, why the contract was fulfilled. But we haveexamined our reports and it is the case that the contractswere not fulfilled." PTI PDS