PCB spent exorbitant sums on foreign tours

Report submitted to IPC reveals former, current chairmen have blown millions away

KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials have wasted millions of rupees on international tours, with chairman Shaharyar Khan alone spending Rs5.5 million on 14 tours.

The Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination had recently asked the PCB to submit the details of its officials’ foreign tours, and Express News has obtained a copy of the board’s report.

As per the contents of the report, Shaharyar undertook 14 tours between October 2014 and July 2016 on account of International Cricket Council (ICC) meetings and various trips to India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, UAE and England.

On these tours, approximately Rs3.5 million was spent on accommodation and daily allowance, while another Rs2 million was incurred as travel expenses.



Meanwhile, Executive Committee Chairman Najam Sethi went on 19 tours between November 2014 and June 2016, with most of his travels being to Dubai, although he also went to India twice and Qatar once.

Like Shaharyar, Sethi also attended ICC meetings, but a majority of his travels were also for PSL-related activities, negotiations with India over the bilateral series and procurement of bulletproof buses.

In all, Sethi’s excursions set the PCB back some Rs6.8 million, including Rs3.3 million on accommodation and daily allowance and Rs3.5 million on travel expenses.

The eye-watering figures do not include air tickets and lodgings provided by the ICC and other boards.



It also does not include the travel expenditure incurred by Sethi between 2013 and 2014 as PCB chairman when he went on eight international tours — five to UAE, two to Bangladesh and one to England.

During this time, he also attended ICC and Asian Cricket Council meetings — the airfare was covered by the hosts, but the accommodation, daily allowance and other travel expenditure relieved the PCB coffers by some Rs3.3 million.

Furthermore, former PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf toured India, UAE, England, South Africa and Singapore seven times between January 2013 and March 2014, with the vast majority of these tours being for ICC-related duties.

Ashraf received approximately Rs1.5 million as accommodation and daily allowance, whereas the reimbursement of his travel expenses totalled up to Rs1.7 million.



In all, a grand total of Rs12.1 million was spent on foreign tours of this trio of ‘honorary’ chairmen.

But even they pale in comparison to the foreign excursions of Chief Operating Officer Subhan Ahmed, who had a staggering 32 tours between January 2013 and July 2016, with those trips costing almost Rs8.8 million.

In contrast, PCB’s Chief Financial Officer Badar Manzoor Khan only had one foreign tour last year, although his tally for the first six months of the current year had increased to a rather healthy three.

His trips abroad cost PCB Rs1.2 million altogether, while Director Marketing Naila Bhatti’s nine tours of UAE cost Rs1.8 million. 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2016.

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