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Updated Thursday, June 30, 2011 11:06 am TWN, By Adam Plowright, AFP

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Olympics Swiss timekeeper under watch in Indian corruption scandal

NEW DELHI -- For decades, Swiss Timing enjoyed a reputation for precision and professionalism at the world's biggest sports events, but a corruption case in India has it battling to save its image.

The company, part of the Swatch luxury goods empire, has been an official timekeeper and results provider for the Olympics since 1976 and is already booked for London in 2012.

It and partner Omega, a watch brand in the Swatch stable, have successfully traded on the image of Swiss efficiency and luxury to create a near monopoly in the business.

But legal problems in India, where it is accused of conspiring to win a 1.1 billion rupee (US$24 million) contract for the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games threatens to sully its previously squeaky clean reputation.

“What's happening in India is very damaging. It's decades of reputation that are ruined by allegations that we think are totally ungrounded,” the company's chief executive Christophe Berthaud told AFP by telephone.

He has been called to stand trial in New Delhi, at a date yet to be set, over claims the company cheated the Indian state by corrupting officials to win the contract for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi last year.

In a 36-page chargesheet filed in a special court in the capital and seen by AFP, the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) accuses Swiss Timing and its partners of causing “a wrongful loss of 956 million rupees.”

The loss “was caused to the organizing committee and a corresponding gain to Swiss Timing and its partners and representatives by eliminating all competition as a result of conspiracy, forgery and abuse of position.”

The chargesheet spotlights the dysfunctional organization of the Delhi event — the most expensive in Commonwealth Games history at US$6 billion — and the alleged collusion between officials and contractors.

Former organizing committee chairman and politician Suresh Kalmadi and his right-hand man V.K. Verma are in jail awaiting trial on multiple corruption charges. They maintain their innocence.

Prosecutors allege that former air force pilot Kalmadi and others deliberately skewed the tender process in order to eliminate competitors to Swiss Timing and its local Indian partner of 25 years, Gem International.

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