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By Mansoor
Suhail
Masood Hasan's columns in The News of May 18 and 19, which
carry unfounded allegations and venomous criticism of the Pakistan
Cricket Board and its chairman, are distortions which cannot be substantiated.
It is regrettable that the writer has used his columns in your esteemed
newspaper to unleash a personal vendetta against the PCB which had
refused to oblige him on solicited favours in the recent past when
he demanded from the board a contract for his PR/advertising agency.
Further,
the writer did not ever bother to call the PCB to ask
for its side of the story as is the journalistic norm and
ethic. As such, these
unsubstantiated allegations and innuendo do not deserve
to be replied to, but in the interest of informing the
readership and to set the
record straight, the PCB wishes to clarify the following
based upon facts:
NCHD/PHDF:
It is a lie that the funds and grant given to the National
Commission for Human Development
and the Pakistan Human Development
Fund by the government of Pakistan was "never accounted
for". All grants and funds
received from the government were released by the Ministry
of Finance after approval by the competent authority
and following the established
rules of business of the government.
The
NCHD's accounts have been audited annually by Ferguson & Co
and there are no qualifications. In addition the auditor-general
of Pakistan also carries
out an audit of the accounts of the NCHD/PHDF. It is totally malicious, as
alleged by the article, that "much more money has been
gobbled up under the guise of service to the poor".
There are no irregularities, unauthorized use of funds
or unaccounted
for expenditures by the NCHD/PHDF as alleged in the
article. This is substantiated by the final report
of the auditor-general for the
audited
accounts
of the NCHD for 2002-2005 as submitted onward to the president and to the
Public Accounts Committee of parliament.
Dr
Nasim Ashraf, who is chairman of the NCHD and the founding
director
of the PHDF/NCHD, has personally contributed nearly
Rs10 million to the fund since
its inception. He has worked in an honorary capacity drawing no salary
either from
the NCHD/PHDF for the last seven years and from the PCB for the last
two years. Dr Ashraf in fact has been reimbursing the NCHD
even for the personal use of
a car and home telephone even though he is authorized all of these in
his
capacity as chairman with the rank of minister of
state. So far, records prove that
Dr Ashraf paid to the NCHD Rs997,774 from 2003 to 2007 for the above.
Dr
Nasim Ashraf was a very successful doctor who had practised
in America for nearly 28 years and was asked to come
to Pakistan for public service
and not for any other motive. Both the NCHD and the PHDF
are managed and run by an
independent board of directors and not by a single individual. Eminent
personalities from
all over the world are the custodian of the funds for the NCHD and
the PHDF. Every decision is made in an open and transparent
manner at board meetings
whose minutes are available on record. In addition, audited financial
statements
are
posted on the website on a quarterly basis and accounts are also submitted
to the Ministry of Finance on a quarterly basis. Furthermore, the UNDP
has also
carried out a complete financial audit as per their agreement with
NCHD
at the conclusion of their five-year agreement.
The
NCHD/PHDF has successfully raised over $27 million from
such internationally reputable entities such as The Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, Glaxo Smith Kline, the OPEC Fund, UNESCO,
UNICEF and UNDP which shows the confidence
of such entities
who do their full due diligence before entering into any partnership
with
an organization. The audited financial statements of accounts are
sent to all
partners. The NCHD won the International UNESCO Award for the Best
Literacy Programme in
the World in 2006 based upon its innovative programme which has successfully
established 122,000 adult literacy centres in all 114 districts of
Pakistan besides 22,000 additional primary feeder schools.
There is no case pending
against NCHD/PHDF
in NAB or another such entity as alleged in the article.
The
PCB constitution: The constitution of the PCB was suspended
in July 1999
by the then president Rafiq Tarar and was finally reinstituted
because of the efforts of Dr Ashraf in November 2007.
There
is a governing body comprising 14 eminent people including
the presidents of regional associations that conducts
all affairs of the PCB.
The chairman has constituted committees that deal with
finance,
audit, HR and discipline,
commercial
affairs, infrastructure, domestic cricket, international cricket,
and there is even a good governance and rules committee.
A former secretary-general
for finance
Moin Afzal heads the finance committee, former test cricketer
Ejaz Butt with substantial corporate experience chairs
the
internal audit committee
and
the rules and governance committee is headed by Justice Ejaz
Yousaf, a
Supreme Court judge. The commercial affairs committee is chaired
by Farooq Rehmatullah
while
Lt-Gen (r) Munir Hafiez heads the disciplinary and HR committee.
Even
as chairman of the ad-hoc committee before the new board
was established, proper procedure was being followed
with Moin Afzal heading the
finance and treasury functions along with Ali Raza,
president of the NBP.
All expenditures and budgets
were approved by this ad-hoc committee which had legal powers
under section 14 of the constitution of the PCB. It is
untrue
that nepotism and cronyism
are being practised at the PCB. There is no relative or friend
of the chairman who is employed
and after an open, transparent process led by Ferguson & Co,
the CEO, Shafqat Naghmi, was selected after a worldwide search
and
interviewing nearly half
a dozen candidates. Mr Naghmi has an MBA from the University
of California at Berkeley
and has studied at Harvard University. He has the distinction
of having
implemented the machine-readable passport system in Pakistan
in the course of an illustrious
career in two provinces and the federal government. Sheikhupura
Stadium was built purely from public support, and a sum of
Rs40 million was
collected from the
public because of the faith people had in Mr Naghmi's honesty
and determination. No enquiry has ever been conducted into
the affairs
of Sheikhupura
Stadium as alleged by the writer. Finally, Mr Naghmi was already
serving in the
federal
government when Ejaz Shah was made home secretary of Punjab.
In fact, the two have never met in life. Every position in
the PCB
is openly
advertised and
the
process is followed as laid down in the policy manual. This
is all available on record.
Chairman's
perks and allowances: It is important to point out that
the perks
and allowances of the chairman PCB were not instituted by
Dr Ashraf but existed before he took charge. On assumption
of
office, the
chairman PCB
cancelled
the practice of a PCB house for the chairman in Lahore saving
the board nearly Rs10
million over the last 18 months. Even though the policy allows
the chairman,
he does not avail the domestic daily allowance. This amount
approximately comes to Rs1.8 million and has not been claimed
for reimbursement
by the current
chairman.
Other
perks and allowances such as a 3,500 cc car, four servants,
telephone and utility bills for his personal
residence have
not been availed
by Dr Ashraf,
who has voluntarily waived it since 2006. After the escalation
in air fares the PCB chairman instituted a new policy whereby
every director
and board
member including the chairman would only travel in economy
plus for
domestic travel
in Pakistan. This has saved hundreds of thousands of rupees
in the last few moths.
To date, he has never claimed any reimbursement for entertainment
allowance of the chairman which is based upon actual.
DLA–Piper:
Regarding the law firm DLA Piper which is reputed to
be one of the top law firms for sports in the world, the
facts
are that
it was hired by a former chairman to protect Pakistan's interest after the
Oval test
fiasco.
It
succeeded
in exonerating Pakistan from the charge of ball-tampering
at
the hearing in London. Subsequently it helped the PCB win its case at
the International Court
of Appeals
in Lausanne against the World Anti-Doping Agency. Also,
it is highly
inflammatory of the writer to allege that the appellate tribunal
of the doping case
headed by renowned jurist Justice Fakhruddin G Ebrahim did
not act in an independent and impartial manner. This is
impugning the integrity
of the judge
and
the
tribunal.
Finances:
It is incorrect that the PCB balance sheet showed Rs34
billion
when Dr Ashraf took over in October 2006. For the record,
as per the financial audited
accounts of 2005, the PCB's assets were Rs1.90 billion
on June 30, 2005, and had risen to Rs4.02 billion on
June 30, 2007. Liabilities
stood
at
Rs292.8
million on June 30, 2007, and have been decreased to
Rs215 million as
of March,
31, 2008.
In addition, the board has invested according to a
policy approved by the finance
and treasury committee in only A-rated banks and the
rate of return on this over the last four years has grown
from 4.5 per cent to nine
per cent.
Achievements:
Discipline – the chairman instituted zero tolerance
policy for indiscipline. Due process was always afforded to the accused
and Shoaib Akhtar and Muhammad Asif got off on a technicality in
the
doping case
from
the appellate
tribunal headed by Justice Fakhruddin G Ebrahim.
Subsequently, the PCB took up the cudgels and won all international
challenges
to that decision. In the
latest
Shoaib Akhtar case, the PCB's governing board and
disciplinary committee
handed the sentence to the bowler for repeatedly violating
the board's code
of conduct
as he was under a two-year probation period following
his last offence of hitting Mohammad Asif. The governing board
clearly did
not wish
to harm
any individual's
ability to earn his livelihood therefore it specifically
allowed Shoaib Akhtar to play overseas but prohibited him from
playing for Pakistan
or within
Pakistan.
Nothing could be fairer than that. It was the appellate
tribunal headed by an equally independent judge, Justice Aftab
Farrukh, which
gave a stay order to
suspend the ban for 30 days to allow Shoaib Akhtar
to play in the IPL.
The
PCB had no jurisdiction and had nothing to do with
this decision of the appellate tribunal.
Infrastructure:
Just in this fiscal year alone, the PCB has undertaken
work to
have 22 grounds in 22 districts of the country – six
in Sindh, seven in Balochistan, six in NWFP and
three in Punjab – which
will all be completed by June 30, 2008. This is
consistent with the
PCB's
policy
of developing
infrastructure
at the
grassroots level.
Welfare
of cricketers: Dr Ashraf implemented a pension fund scheme
for retired test
cricketers thereby benefiting 43 past cricketers
who now receive a monthly pension. Gratuity for
retiring
umpires
has
also been
started in
the last
two years. For the first time, first class cricketers
are being given salaries. Nearly 260 cricketers
in eleven regions
benefit
from this.
In addition
the match fee
for first class matches has also been increased
to promote domestic cricket.
For
the Pakistan national team, the amount given in monthly
contracts as
well match fees and bonuses have
been increased
significantly over the
last two years. For the first time, under-19
cricketers are also
being paid
a match
fee. A national
talent hunt scheme was launched in 2007 with
the support of Mobilink and Geo
TV. Twelve thousand young cricketers under
the age of 15 took part in trials in 55 locations
in the
country. From
this a
Pakistan under-15 team was
culled which won the first under-15 international
championship held in
the West
Indies last month.
It
was only fair had Mr Masood Hasan should have at least
tried to verify the facts from
the PCB before writing something
that was in clear disregard
of the facts and which made unsubstantiated
and baseless remarks against the
integrity and reputation of Dr Nasim Ashraf
as well as
the PCB and its employees. It
is
hoped that the above facts will correctly
inform your readers. Ultimately it is for them to
decide and judge.
The
writer is director media at the PCB |
