Corruption Looms Over Indian Grand Prix Debut

This year's Indian Grand Prix is apparently not as done-deal as it was believed a couple of months back. And it's not because the track isn't ready or anything, like it happened in the case of last year's Korean Grand Prix, but because corruption-related fears loom over the race to be held on the Jaypee Group Circuit as the 18th round of the 2011 F1 championship.

The first sign of trouble appeared last week, when it was confirmed that the very F1 boss of the Indian race promoter Jaypee, Mark Hughes, decided to cut ties with the project in New Delhi and joined the Abu Dhabi project instead.

According to a spokesman for Jaypee Group, Hughes “left due to his own personal reasons”, leaving plenty of room for speculation. And since trouble seldom comes in one piece, this week another member of the Indian Grand Prix project, the very initiator of the event Suresh Kalmadi, has stepped down on suspicion of corruption.

Whether Hughes preferred to leave the boat before it sank we don't know, but apparently Kalmadi is linked with hindering an inquiry of India's Central Bureau of Investigation, while heading the original F1 promoter, the Indian Olympic Association.

Current F1 promoter for the Indian race JPSK – an acronym combining Jaypee with the initials of Kalmadi's son Sumeer, part-owner of the company – is currently under investigation for alleged channelling of illegal profits surrounding the recent Commonwealth Games held in Delhi.