Auditors point out irregularities in PHF affairs

ISLAMABAD: The Director General Audit has pointed out numerous irregularities in the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) audit report (exclusively available with The News) for the year 2020-22.

The office of the Director General Audit has pointed out unlawful cash withdrawal of Rs 91.15 million during this period.

Around sixteen serious objections have been pointed out in the audit report which was conducted under the directions of the Ministry of Inter-provincial Coordination (IPC).

One of the serious objections was the illegal cash withdrawal during the period.

The Financial Rules of PHF state that all payments including service charges, purchases, major repair, maintenance and renovation work of PHF Offices, advance payments, other than petty cash expenditure are to be made through crossed cheques in favor of the payee (except where cash is mandatory or approved by the authority).

According to the audit report, Article 13.6.5 of PHF's constitution states that all financial matters including estimates and statement of expenditure shall be placed before the board for its consideration and approval.

Article 18.2.3 of PHF's constitution states that the president will deal with any matter of urgency arising between meetings of the Board/congress and issue directive in this regard; provided, such a decision of the president is placed before the Board/congress in its next meeting.

Rule-157 of Federal Treasury states that all third parties' payment shall be made through cheques drawn in the name of recipients.

Pakistan Hockey Federation made payments of Rs124,936,365 in cash to different suppliers and to the camp managers during the financial year 2020-22.

Cash payments to the third party were made in violation of the rules without justification. The auditors observed that the PHF officials were not ready to respond.

An estimated sum of Rs400 million was withdrawn in cash from different PHF accounts during the last eight years. There are also some serious observations regarding handling of PHF accounts and about how many accounts the PHF has been operating for the last eight years now.

When 'The News' approached sitting secretary PHF Haider Hussain, he admitted that there had been no accountability process over the years.

“There has been no accountability of the process when I took over. If you want a clean system, there must be accountability process to check all illegal moves well in time. I joined the PHF just two months back. These audit objections are for the last three financial years,” PHF secretary said.