The Auditor General of Pakistan has exposed several financial irregularities running into millions of rupees, illegal appointments, and the awarding of contracts in the Pakistan Cricket Board.
The audit report has mentioned several instances of irregularities, including a payment of 63.39 million rupees to the police for meals while providing security during international matches.
The report also mentioned unauthorised appointment of three coaches in the under-16 age group at the high-performance centre in Karachi for a total salary of 5.4 million rupees and the irregular award of ticketing contracts without open competition.
The PCB during the fiscal year June 2023-July 2024 has had two separate chairmen.
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Since former Test captain Ramiz Raja was removed as chairman in December 2022, the PCB has had three chairmen, including Najam Sethi from December 2022 to June 2023, Zaka Ashraf from June 2023 to January 2024, and currently Mohsin Naqvi, who assumed office in February 2024.
The report also mentioned overpayment to match officials on account of match fees of 3.8 million rupees, irregular appointment of the director of media for 900,000 per month, and unauthorised payments of 4.17 million rupees to the chairman from February to June 2024 as payment of utility charges, POL, and accommodation, even while the chairman was holding the office of Interior Minister and all his benefits stood covered under the law.
The report has also highlighted how a director of media was appointed in October 2023 without any process, as the post was advertised on August 17, but the appointment, day of application, approval of appointment, issuance of appointment letter, signing of agreement, and joining were all done on the same day (October 2, 2023).
This is not the first time the AG of Pakistan has flagged irregularities in the spending of the PCB and its activities, but so far no chairman has ever been held accountable. In fact, Sethi and Ashraf both served multiple tenures on the board.
The AG has noted that money has been spent without authorisation or proper bids. It cited examples of 19.8 million being spent on diesel for bulletproof vehicles provided by the Punjab government, 22.5 million being spent on hiring of coasters, 198 million loss due to award of media rights at less than reserved price, irregular award of international broadcasting rights without open competition (USD 99 million), and non-recovery of outstanding sponsorship amounts to the tune of 5.3 billion rupees, etc.
