The hoax in the name of football legend Lionel Messi is a blatant example of the lengths to which greedy people will go in their quest to get their hands on the money of Keralites. The report that has just come out shows that those who felled trees in the forest in the name of timber traders and duped mobile phone dealers by showing them Mango Phone instead of Apple's iPhone, thereby opening new channels of fraud, have now dragged sportsmen and the Sports Minister into the same game. The report on the event, which also implicates Reporter Broadcasting Company, has come out on the same day that the owners of the Reporter channel are going to court in the Muttil tree-felling case. It is deeply unfortunate that the former government, including the department minister and the Chief Minister, was lured into the trap of a hoax gang that sought to make money by exploiting the enthusiasm for Messi among football fans in Kerala. It is now clear from the investigation report submitted by the Sports Department Secretary that all the hype created by repeatedly assuring Malayalis that Messi would come and play, and by preparing the international stadium in Kochi for that purpose, was merely a cover for fraud. The report has been forwarded to the Finance Department and the Law Department for further investigation.
The foul play behind the campaign claiming Messi’s visit began behind the scenes even before the whistle was blown for the Messi match campaign. The game began with an email received by the former Sports Minister. This is not something that can be arranged simply by sending an email from Argentina saying, “Here I come" and having him come to Kerala to play a match. Messi's arrival and a match can take place only after obtaining all the official approvals related to the Argentine Football Association, FIFA and the All India Football Federation, prior permission from the State Finance Department, scrutiny by the Law Department and, since it is a football match, a no-objection certificate from the Central Government and a detailed project report. But in this case, without any of these, the government and the sponsor company made a big boast about Messi's arrival, claiming that the Argentine Football Association had sent a letter to the state government. It is now clear that what was in that email was not a letter, but a pamphlet from the association. There is another revelation that it was signed by the sponsor himself. It was on the strength of this pamphlet that the state government officially wrote to the Centre, bypassing all the rules and restricting the entire matter to the control of the then Chief Minister, Sports Minister and Chief Secretary, claiming that Argentina’s World Cup team was coming. Let alone those who indulged in the fraud, it is unfortunate that the then Left government hastily connived at it and, to its discredit, misled football fans in Kerala, thereby bringing disrepute to the state at the international level. Government machinery was being misused, with the knowledge of the Chief Minister and the departmental minister, to secure financial and commercial gains for private sponsors. All decisions were taken at meetings held at their initiative. Everything other than this was communicated by the Sports Minister's private secretary as public releases. The manipulations in the fraud took place with the entire Sports Department machinery being pushed to the background.
The revenue projected for the event, which cost Rs 218 crore, was Rs 82 crore. Despite the deficit of Rs 128 crore, the proposal was not submitted for prior scrutiny by the Finance Department. There was no transparency in the selection of the sponsor. The sponsor's financial resources or security were not verified. Permission for foreign exchange was granted to a company that had previously faced financial allegations. The stadium in Kaloor, Kochi, was handed over to the sponsor for maintenance without any decision having been taken about the competition.
The report shows that the hoax of Messi visit was one of flagrant corruption. Only a detailed investigation will bring out what lay behind the brazen support from the top echelons of the administration, including the Chief Minister, for a programme organised by a private individual and institution. The channel companies behind the programme argue that the government did not suffer any loss. The financial loss is matter to be established through a detailed investigation. However, all those who played a role in the false game of misleading the people with the help of government machinery are responsible for this. Before reaching such an agreement with a company accused in fraudulent cases in Kerala, everyone involved must answer the question of why the government did not bother to verify even the claims made by the company in this regard, let alone examine its track record. Let us not allow this horrific fraud, which has brought disgrace to Kerala before the world by invoking the name of a world-class sports legend, to turn into something like the Muttil tree-felling case, which is still under investigation, or the Mango scam case, where the investigation has barely scratched the surface.