The plans to move the
Commonwealth Games Federation headquarters out of London will be re-visited in
the months to come.
In stating this CGF President
Tunku tan Sri Imran Tuanku Jaafar said that decisions such as this should not
be looked at emotionally but practically and that he hoped commonsense will
prevail amongst member countries when the proposal is revisited in the months
to come.
“Yes there was a proposal to move
the headquarters out of London as our lease at the present location comes to an
end in the middle of next year,” said Tunku Imran.
“Thus the search for a suitable
replacement started and a total of 15 countries were considered and evaluated
as possible sites for the relocation process.
“Amongst the countries considered
were Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Canada, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, New
Zealand, Singapore and South Africa. In the end it was found that Malaysia
offered the best, both in terms of location, facilities and tax benefits.”
Imran said that while
historically the CGF has always been based in London, the financial
implications were a consideration in making this decision to relocate.
“We will handle this with tact as
there is just too much emotion attached by those opposing the relocation exercise,”
said Imran.
“We have less then a year to make
a decision, as we have to vacate the present location by September next year
and look for an alternative, be it in London or another country, to be decided
by the Council.”
The CGF Executive Board tabled a
proposal to the Council at its meeting on August 16. But it was subsequently
withdrawn in the afternoon.
The current headquarters is
located at a building in Piccadilly owned by EON Productions, the film
production company that makes the James Bond movies. It is staffed by six and the
move to Malaysia would save them £925,000 (RM5 million) within the next
quadrennial,” contends Imran.
“And we are not even talking
about assistance that we could derive from the Malaysian government.
“Since both me and Jega (Tan Sri
M. Jegathesan) were Malaysian’s, we made it clear that we had no personal
interest and kept out of the decision making process.
“The selection of Kuala Lumpur
was based on a report submitted by an independent and reputable firm KPMG and
the executive Board made the decision to table it at the Council.
The British Empire Games
Federation was founded in 1932 after the successful staging of the British
Empire Games in Hamilton, Canada two years earlier.
In 1952 the name was changed to
the British Empire and Commonwealth Games Federation. Another name change
occurred in 1966 when it was called the British Commonwealth Games Federation.
It was not until 1974 that the name was changed to the Commonwealth Games
Federation, as its known today.
