Bushell claims that his company is owed the money for helping Delhi 2010 raise a record $85 million (£54.5 million) in sponsorship for this year's Games, which are due to be opened by Prince Charles on October 3.

SMAM and Fast Track, the British company founded by Olympic silver medallist Alan Pascoe and who were raising broadcast revenue for the Games, have become the public fall-guys as the preparations have become embroiled in claims of corruption.

SMAM were fired by Delhi officials after Indian Railways, the Games' biggest backers, complained that money meant for the event was being used to pay the Australian firm commission.

But Bushell told insidethegames here that allegations that they were involved in any wrongdoing were totally without foundation.

He said: "It’s very hard to be corrupt when you haven’t been paid anything."

SMAM has previously worked on helping raise money for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and Melbourne.

They are highly respected internationally and are the marketing agents for the Australian Olympic Committee.

Their reputation is such that, despite the recent scandal, they are currently negotiating a final contract to raise sponsorship for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Bushell said: "India is India.

"We expected things not to be as if we were working in Australia or in the UK.

"But at the same time we did not expect anything like this.

"We weren’t able to do our job that we had always been able to do in previous Games and in the way it should have been undertaken.

"As a consequence we would probably have been able to raise a lot more if we had been able to do that.

"We have done our job – it’s a record [amount of sponsorship] for the Commonwealth Games.

"It's bigger than Melbourne [for the 2006 Games]. "

Bushell is shocked by the amount of criticism that SMAM have attracted in the Indian media.

He said: "We just can’t fathom it.

"The overall concoction of fabrication that have been labelled against us.

"We are at a loss as to why there is this attack on our credentials, creditability, morality, integrity."

Bushell claims that SMAM have spent about $5 million (£3.2 million) in staffing an office of 12 workers in India and travelling around the world to find sponsors for the Games.

He is claiming that SMAM is owed up to $12 million (£7.7 million).

Bushell said: "The position we are in now is that we obviously want to be paid for what we’ve done.

"We’ve had massive expense.

"We believe our so-called dismissal was unlawful.

"All the legal advice we’ve had is that they [Delhi 2010] had no right to do so.

"There was no commitment in our contract to achieve a guaranteed number [of sales].

"There were agreed targets but it was purely an agreed target, best endeavours,  let’s go for it and work with each other to achieve it.

"So to say it’s non-performance is impossible to do."

The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) have now thrown their public support behind SMAM, Fast Track and Event Knowledge Services, another foreign company hired by organisers to help them stage the Games but whose role is now also under scrutiny.

A statement sent to insidethegames said: "The Federation has made recommendations to the OC (Organising Committee) on a variety of issues.

"These recommendations are based on the CGF's knowledge and experience, as well as the reputation of the consultants and the way they have performed at previous major events.

"The CGF stands by the recommendations that it has made.

"It is a matter for the OC, not the CGF, to appoint consultants, and to ensure that the selection follows proper process and is in accordance with Indian law.

"The CGF has nothing to hide, and would fully support a formal investigation into the appointments in question by the appropriate Indian authorities."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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