Pak Parliament's PAC chief praises BCCI for management skills

Karachi:

The BCCI on Sunday came in for praise for its management skills from the chairman of the top financial watchdog of Pakistan's National Assembly, who described India as the true superpower of cricket.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan made praised BCCI at a hearing of the PAC on the financial affairs of Pakistan Cricket Board.

Addressing PCB Chairman Ejaz Butt, Nisar, also the opposition leader in the Parliament, said, "That is because the Indian board has its house in order and their management is very good."

His remarks came at a three-hour session held to look into the report of the Auditor-General of Pakistan into the six year accounts of the PCB which reportedly have several discrepancies and anomalies.

The PAC gave the PCB chairman two months to give answers to the 28 objections raised by the Auditor-General in the cricket board accounts.

"We will call all the chairmen who ran the board in last six year period to explain these discrepancies," Nisar said. He made it clear that if any chairman or board official was not available to appear before the PAC, the committee would recommend the government to file a case against him.

Nisar also remarked that he failed to understand how the PCB was functioning without a proper constitution.

At the hearing, the Auditor-General made a damning reference to the working of PCB.

"After going through the accounts I can say this is not the PCB but it is like a shop. The affairs of the board are being run like a shop which is sad," the AG told PAC members. Butt told the committee that since he took charge in October last year he had submitted all relevant documents available in the board to the AG's office.

"If documents are not available for verification or explanation what can I do. I am helpless," he said.

"The previous board spent 58 million rupees on terrorism insurance and 100 million on purchasing costly equipment for setting up a biomechanics laboratory in Lahore," he said. Butt also told the PAC that his financial officers were still trying to assess the total assets of the board since many documents were missing.

Some of the discrepancies raised by the AG in the 50-page report include expenditures of 148.1 million rupees without any supporting documents, inability to recover 12.3 million from two broadcasters (not Ten Sports) since 2003.

The PCB has also failed to recover 66 million rupees as rent from tenants it has leased out its property around Gaddafi stadium. It has not recovered 6.1 million rupees as rent from players and officials who stayed at the National Cricket academy in Lahore.

The Board has not recovered 20 million spent on legal expenses without proper authorization on fighting legal cases of Muhammad Yousuf in ICL affair and Muhammad Asif in Dubai doping case. It has loaned out 10.5 million to hockey and golf federations without proper authorisation.