What is DDCA scam and why Arun Jaitley's reputation is at stake?

The DDCA scam pertains to the alleged wrong doings by the senior officials of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) which was headed by senior BJP leader and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for 14 years.

New Delhi: The DDCA scam which is in the centre of the latest confrontation between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the NDA government pertains to the alleged wrong doings by the senior officials of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) which was headed by senior BJP leader and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for 14 years.

Here are some facts related to the DDCA scam-

• The DDCA scam once again created headlines after the CBI raided Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's principal secretary Rajendra Kumar's office on Tuesday.
• Upset with the raids, CM Kejriwal blamed the Centre for misusing CBI for political gains and alleged that the agency actually came looking for files relating to widespread corruption at the DDCA, which was headed by Jaitley.
• The DDCA has been mired in neck-deep corruption and cronyism. Many former cricketers, including BJP MP Kirti Azad, had voiced their concerns about the financial irregularities in DDCA at various occasions in past. Azad had demanded a probe against Jaitley and other BCCI members for foreign exchange violations during the IPL T20 season two.
• Kirti Azad had even written letter to the SHO, IP Estate alleging that rules were flouted during Arun Jaitley's tenure as DDCA president. Azad had even requested Delhi Police to thoroughly investigate the matter against Jaitley.
• Taking cognisance of the demand of probe in the DDCA scam, Kejriwal formed a two-member committee to investigate the allegations.
• The inquiry committee set up to probe alleged financial irregularities in DDCA had submitted its report to the Delhi government recently.
• The Delhi government was preparing to set up a Commission of Inquiry over it when the CBI raids took place.
• CM Kejriwal had alleged that the CBI raid was conducted to take possession of the DDCA files which were kept in his office.
• Jaitley, who has denied Kejriwal’s allegations as utterly baseless, had opposed former sports minister in the UPA government Ajay Maken’s proposed to make sports bodies like the DDCA more transparent and accountable.
• Ajay Maken too claimed that four persons in the DDCA, who have been "known for their proximity" to Jaitley, have been named as "officers in default" by the Registrar of Companies (RoC) in his order of August last year.
• Maken also claimed that the investigation by the SFIO had found that the reconstruction of the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium was carried out between 2002 and 2007, which saw an escalation of costs by Rs 90 crore – the initial budget was 24 crore but it eventually went up to Rs 114 crore.
• The Congress leader had claimed that the SFIO probe also revealed that there was no record of tender for most of the contracts issued by the DDCA for the construction of the stadium.
• Many companies that were given contracts were actually owned by the office bearers of the DDCA, he had claimed.
• Arun Jaitley is one of the most powerful persons in BJP dispensation at the Centre after Prime Minister Narendra Modi. If the investigation finds wrongdoing by Jaitley, it will surely tarnish the image of NDA government, that prides itself on being scam free.