Current management not responsible for 'irregularities' committed in past: PHF

Shehbaz senior says people currently at helm of affairs are spending money wisely

LAHORE: Pakistan Hockey Federation secretary Shahbaz Ahmed senior has said that federation’s current management was not responsible ‘financial irregularities’ in the past, saying the people currently at the helm of affairs are spending money wisely.

He was commenting on the Auditor General of Pakistan’s recently released 2015-16 audit report, which revealed major irregularities in the PHF between 2010 and 2011.

The report states that five senior hockey team officials, i.e. Ahmed Alam, Danish Kaleem, Muhammad Akhlaq, Shahbaz Junior and Dr Asad Abbas, who travelled with the contingent to Bangladesh, received their reward for winning the 2010 South Asian Games, “twice”. The PHF withdrew the amounts on March 22, 2011 and June 1, 2011.

Meanwhile, during the World Cup 2010, the PHF sanctioned Rs1.2 million in February to allow a 48-person delegation travel to India for the team’s participation in the mega event.  Interestingly, most of the people who travelled to India were neither players, nor experts or journalists.

“What happened in the past does not concern us,” Shehbaz senior told Express News on Wednesday. “We are responsible for happenings in the present era. We are getting grants, which are being spent with utmost care, and on record.”

The PHF secretary in 2010-11 was former Olympian Asim Bajwa. He was not available for comment.