June 04, 2007	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 18, 1428

KARACHI, June 3: The Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) on Sunday swept under the carpet the financial mismanagement by hiding vital contents of the audit report from executive committee members to seek approval for audited accounts of the federation.

The executive committee members, who met on a call by PBF chairman Anwar Chowdhry, were provided only four pages of the audited financial statement for 2005 and 2006 which did not contain the auditors’ report for the members.

The members were kept in the dark about auditors’ remarks exclusively for the members, according to which PBF’s monetary affairs are not being run according to normal financial procedures, violating accounting standards. The most serious irregularity is a bank account being operated by PBF without having any record in accounts book.

“The federation is continuing the policy to record transactions as and when incurred without completely and properly following the concept of accrual basis of accounting and materiality in violation of International Accounting Standard.

“A balance amount of Rs1.645million (2005: 1.145million) at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Limited in the name of Pakistan Amateur Boxing Federation, being the custodian of the said amount, has not been reflected in the books of accounts of Pakistan Boxing Federation at the closing day of June 30, 2006. Neither the bank balance as current asset nor the corresponding transactions in income and expenditure account have been recorded in financial statements of the federation,” the auditors mentioned in their report to executive committee members.

The executive committee members were not provided the page containing the auditors’ remarks apparently to hush up the whole affair which they did by getting an approval of the members.

The approval didn’t come without fireworks at the meeting as Chowdhry went berserk when confronted by Pakistan Army representative Maj Nasir Tung on the issue of audit report.

“Chowdhry was furious when the major asked him about a press report regarding the audit report in which financial mismanagement has been pointed out by auditors. The chairman refused to form a committee to make financial matters more transparent an idea which was endorsed also by me. The audit report did not mention bank account being maintained without having any record,” PBF vice-president Shah Naeem Zafar told Dawn.

The official said after much hesitation initially Chowdhry agreed to constitute a committee to keep an eye on finances, but later it was decided to install Haroon Masood, a close confidant of Chowdhry, as ‘financial advisor’. According to new arrangement, Haroon being a ‘financial expert’ with Wapda would be looking after the PBF financial documents before and after the audit.

Haroon’s appointment is rather strange since its makes the PBF treasurer Mohammad Ghaznavi’s presence redundant.

In addition to the secret bank account, the auditors had also pulled up PBF on several issues such as not filing of income tax return which can attract legal action, weakness in internal control, and not maintaining the accounts books appropriately.

According to Naeem, Chowdhry and PBF secretary Shakeel Durrani painted a rosy picture that federation had been following all the financial procedures in an appropriate manner. Interestingly, Shakeel had admitted to Dawn last month that points raised by auditors were correct and would not be repeated in future.

“Chowdhry told the members since the auditors returned the report after ratification two days ago, he was not able to circulate it to the members before the meeting. But he promised that documents will be provided in future,” Naeem said.

Interestingly, auditors have also asked PBF to keep minutes of the executive committee meetings to give evidence of the decisions taken regarding budget approval and capital expenditure.

Excuse given by Chowdhry’s is simply absurd since he could have made copies for the members as the report without ratification by auditors was submitted on March 3, 2007.

“On Haroon’s request, Chowdhry has also been made honorary life president of the PBF,” Naeem said while confirming that the decision was approved by the meeting.

The request by Haroon was, however, weird since according to the PBF, Chowdhry is the current chairman of the federation.

While Chowdhry didn’t show the actual documents, he told members that the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) had asked PBF to include 25 per cent former boxers in the body after amendment to constitution.

Astonishingly, while Chowdhry had been International Boxing Federation (AIBA) chief, outsiders such as referee Mohammad Aslam, Mohammad Tariq and Sindh Boxing Association secretary Akram Khan were also present during the meeting.