Vinod Rai, who hit headlines with his audits of the '2G scam' of the UPA government followed by a Supreme Court-mandated stint to cleanse Indian cricket, now has a new role. He will now head one of the country’s biggest jewellery brands.
Rai’s appointment as the chairman and independent non-executive director in the board of Kalyan Jewellers was announced on Monday morning.
“Rai brings a tremendous breadth and depth of experience and we are looking forward to him adding further to the diverse experience we already have on our board today,” said Kalyan CEO T.S.Kalyanaraman.
“It is a privilege for me to be associated with a company which has built the highest levels of trust amongst its stakeholders, conducts its business in an ethical and transparent manner and upholds the standards of good corporate governance,” Vinod Rai said of his elevation.
As Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), Vinod Rai shook the then UPA government to its core with his 2G scam findings. It was the biggest crisis to hit then-prime minister Manmohan Singh’s decade-long tenure at the top, leading to several ministers resigning and some even being arrested and put on trial.
While they were all acquitted eventually with a Delhi court observing that some people created a “scam by artfully arranging a few selected facts and exaggerating things beyond recognition to astronomical levels,” the impact was total — the Congress was ousted from Office and Narendra Modi rode a wave catalysed by the public indignation at the supposed ‘2G scam’ to power.
The new government made Rai the chairman of the Banks Board Bureau, followed two years later by the SC appointing him as interim president of the BCCI, the body governing Indian cricket.
Rai’s, a Kerala-cadre IAS officer, started off as sub-collector of Thrissur, a town near Kochi which is incidentally the headquarters of Kalyan Jewellers. He held the position for eight years back in the seventies.
On the Kalyan board of directors, Rai joins the likes of Warburg Pincus India head Anish Saraf, former RBI deputy governor Kishori Udeshi and former IOB executive director ADM Chavali.