NAB takes notice of alleged corruption in PHF

ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal has taken notice of the complaints of alleged bungling and malpractices in the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) and has asked the concerned officials to submit the report within two months.

A NAB hand out confirmed that the following recent complaints received by NAB from some leading former hockey players, it has been decided to dig out all the facts. It has been learnt that PHF associate secretary Khalid Bashir, former head coach Junaid Khan and manager Col (r) Mohsin has recently approached NAB against the alleged corruption in files and ranks of the federation.

“Junaid and Khalid, who were important part of the Pakistan’s World Cup winning team, submitted proofs of alleged corruption with the NAB. All these proofs would be given to the complaint verification cell before initiating inquiry,” an official told ‘The News’.

Once it is proved that the facts submitted are genuine and realistic, an inquiry would be launched as why and where the money has been spent. It is believed that the PHF has been given over Rs500 million by the federal and provincial governments during the last two years. This grant is besides the amount that comes to the PHF kitty from other sources, including Hockey Club of Pakistan’s shops rent and through sponsorship.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Hockey Association secretary Zahir Shah is also on the record to have said that he had numerous hard facts which were enough to believe that the PHF was not run under the given constitution and finances were not spent properly.The Bureau has also received some complaints against the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), which would be thoroughly examined by the verification cell.

The majority of complaints against PCB and PSB are related with the audit reports of regime that was at the helm of affairs almost two to three years back.Some complaints have also been filed by individuals in their personal capacity. However, the majority of the inquiry against the two boards is related to findings and concerns shown in the audit reports.

All these complaints against PCB and PSB have already been handed over to the verification cell to know as whether the submitted documents are genuine and need further grilling. Once it was established that the facts are genuine, the matter would then be given to inquiry unit and if the concerned deemed it necessary, a proper reference would be filed.