July 23, 2002	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 12,1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

KARACHI, July 22: Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has cleared the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) accounts.

The PSB, which was directed by the federal sports ministry to probe into the PFF accounts, said it had received the audited accounts from the PFF and found them in order.

“We have gone through the PFF accounts, but every thing is in order” the director general of the PSB, Brig Saulat Abbas, said Monday.

The ministry of sports was prompted to check the PFF accounts following the sorry state of football affairs in the country despite US$one-million grant to PFF by FIFA.

The FIFA aid which is a part of Financial Assistance Programme (FAP) aims at youth soccer development programmes.

Pakistan has also been awarded $450,000 after being selected for FIFA’s Goal Project, yet PFF failed to build its Football House, a pre-requisite of the Project.

The PSB official said the accounts provided by the PFF had already been audited by a chartered accountant.

Saulat, however, admitted the PFF accounts were audited through a local chartered accountant, not by a FIFA representative or an audit firm designated by the sport’s world governing body.

The PSB chief rubbished the claims by the PFF secretary, Agha Liaquat Ali, that PSB was not authorized to check PFF accounts saying: “As per constitution the PSB can check all the federations’ accounts including the PFF.”

The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) administration that took over on July 5, 2002, had also audited its previous accounts to check any irregularities.