The Auditor General of Pakistan found financial issues at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), including millions of rupees in irregular expenses plus questions about hiring and contracts.
According to the audit, the PCB paid the police 63.39 million rupees for meal costs while they provided security at international games. The report mentioned that three coaches were hired without permission for the under-16 team at the Karachi high-performance center, costing 5.4 million rupees in pay. There were also issues with how ticketing contracts were handed out, and there was no open bidding process.
Between June 2023 and July 2024, the PCB had two different chairmen, Zaka Ashraf and Mohsin Naqvi. Since Ramiz Raja was removed as chairman in December 2022, the PCB has had three chairmen: Najam Sethi (December 2022 to June 2023), Zaka Ashraf (June 2023 to January 2024), and Mohsin Naqvi (February 2024 to the present).
The audit stated that match officials were overpaid 3.8 million rupees and that the media director was incorrectly hired for 900,000 per month. It also stated that Chairman received 4.17 million rupees in unapproved payments from February to June 2024 for services such as utilities, gasoline, and lodging, even though he was the Interior Minister.
The report noted that a media director was hired in October 2023, even though the job was announced on August 17. The application, approval, appointment letter, agreement signing, and joining all happened on the same day (October 2, 2023).
This is not the first time the AG of Pakistan has noticed inconsistencies in the PCB’s spending, but no chairman has ever been held responsible and both Najam Sethi and Zaka Ashraf held multiple terms.
The AG noticed money was used without permission or bids. Some examples included 19.8 million spent on diesel for government bulletproof vehicles, 22.5 million spent on coaster rentals, 198 million lost due to undervaluing media rights, unlawful international broadcasting rights awarded without open competition (USD 99 million), and 5.3 billion rupees in unpaid sponsorship money.