The W.Times is reporting today that Natwar M. Gandhi, the District’s chief financial officer, is defending his original estimate of the $161.4 million that the city would need to spend to acquire land, conduct environmental assesments, and expand infrastructure for the Washington Nationals new stadium in Southeast. Gandhi’s defense comes amid complaints from various members of the City Council that the mayor’s office has under-estimated the costs to come in under a $165 million price-cap which, if exceeded, would force the city to look for a new location for the stadium and possibly delay its 2008 opening date.

Councilman and stadium critic David Catania (I-At Large), pictured at right, has led the charge against Gandhi — who he termed the “chief fictional officer” — alledging that the CFO’s assesment of $77.1 million for land acquisition is off by as much as $100 million. Catania may be right — Robert Siegel, a businessman who owns 11 properties where the stadium is to be built, filed a lawsuit against the District two weeks ago, alledging that Gandhi’s assesment knowingly underestimated the value of his lands. The lawsuit states:

On its face, the Cost Re-Estimation Study was not conducted in good faith. Rather, on, information and belief, the Study was designed to lead to a known result – to the result that costs associated with land acquisition, environmental remediation and infrastructure will not exceed $165 million. The conclusions in Gandhi’s Cost Re-estimation Study are erroneous, speculative, false and unreasonable.

The total cost for the stadium currently stands at $607 million.