All-India Tennis Association (AITA) finance committee member Hironmoy Chatterjee alleged misuse of the tennis federation’s funds on Tuesday, claiming that the federation “wrongly” spent more than Rs 1 crore on AITA president Anil Jain’s foreign visits, including a few visits to Grand Slams with his wife. Jain, however, dismissed the allegation, claiming that he was entitled to travel with his wife.

Chatterjee also accused Jain of working against the members ahead of the September 2024 elections, forcing affiliated bodies to propose a no-confidence motion against him last year.

Chatterjee, who also holds the charge of AITA vice-president (sports), said the finance committee had raised the allowance of office-bearers for their foreign visits in May 2022, but the decision never got approved by the executive committee (EC). “I was not invited to that meeting, though I am a member. They raised the lump sum entitlement to US $700 per day for past and present presidents and secretary-generals. It was set at US $300 with hotel expenses, while for EC members it was set at US $175 per day, plus actual hotel expenses, for a maximum of seven days. But they never got these recommendations approved by the EC,” Chatterjee said.

He pointed out that while the president is entitled to allowances, his wife is not. He claimed that Jain travelled to Grand Slams with his wife multiple times in business class and AITA wrongly paid for that.