Senators accuse board of financial 'misstatements'

The ongoing battle between the Senate and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) continues, as a letter written by five senators alleges that the PCB has provided incorrect information about the salary of board staff. The letter has also asked for a clarification of the factual position within four days.

The Senate Standing Committee on Sports, which has been grilling the PCB in recent weeks, submitted a letter to the secretary, in which they state: "During the PCB's presentation on May 8, 2008 to the Senate Standing Committee on Sports, it was stated by the PCB's Chief Operating Officer [Shafqat Naghmi] that in the first 10 months of the current financial year [July 1, 2007-April 30, 2008] an amount of Rs 240,000,000 was paid as salaries to the employees of the PCB. This amounts to a payroll of Rs 24,000,000 per month.

"In an earlier meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Sports, it was disclosed in writing by the PCB that the total basic monthly salary of all PCB's permanent and contracted employees as on May 31, 2007 is Rs 6,451,777 [basic salary only].

"In the same disclosure the PCB had stated the total salary package of employees including house rent of 30 per cent and special allowances of 36.7 per cent of the basic pay. Hence the total gross monthly salary as of May 31, 2007 was approximately 6,500,000x1.67 = 10,855,000 [around Rs10.8 million].

"The amount is far less than the Rs24,000,000 per month paid in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year as disclosed by PCB's chief operating officer on May 8, 2008 in the meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Sports.

"We, the undersigned members of the committee, are writing to you to show our grave concern on the misstatement of facts, which may have been made to mislead the committee. We need a written reply within four days stating the factual situation of the monthly payroll of the PCB."

The senators who have signed on the letter are Haroon Akhtar, Nilofar Bakhtiar, Rozina Alam Khan, Enver Baig and Tahir Mashhadi.