PCB, PHF at loggerheads over payment issue

Karachi: A dispute has erupted between the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Pakistan Hockey Federation over an amount of 10 million rupees that the PCB gave to the PHF some eight years back.

According to details, the PCB has asked the PHF to refund the amount which it claims was given as a loan to the federation when they were going to the 2004 Olympic Games in Sydney. “The money was given as a loan because the PHF badly needed funds to finance the team’s preparations and participation in the Olympics games,” a PCB source said. He said the loan was given during the tenure of former Chairman, Lt General (retd) Tauqir Zia who had approved the payment. But a PHF official said the PCB was raising a dead issue. “It was not a loan at all and it was given as a grant for hockey so how can they demand that we repay the amount to them,” a PHF official said. He said the present PHF set up has nothing to do with the money as it was given during the tenure of a former PHF President. “We are not in a position to pay this amount as we are already facing financial crunch and manage on government grants and some sponsorship,” he stated. The PCB, however, finds itself in an awkward position as the auditor-general has raised the objection over the ten million rupees loan or grant. “The matter has been raised in the audit’s report and we have to justify the ten million rupees and recover it from the hockey federation,” an official stated. He said the auditor-general had infact even written to the Pakistan Sports Board to help out in resolving the issue by giving a special grant of ten million to the PHF so that they can repay the loan. PTI