In a communication to Dawn, Lt. Col (r) Ahmad Yar Khan Lodhi, General Secretary of the Pakistan Football Federation, has denied contents of a story, titled “Was PFF involved in ‘Qatar-gate’ controversy?”, published in Dawn’s issues of Sept 17, 2014, and said all decisions taken by it conformed to standard operating procedures.

The PFF official denied his organisation’s involvement in ‘Qatargate’ and said no money had been paid in the personal account of the PFF chief. The letter said that any monetary assistance given by FIFA, the Asian Football Confedera­tion or any other agency “is deposited in the official bank account of the PFF and is never deposited in the bank account of any office-bearer of PFF”.

Dawn stands corrected and apologises for the error. Any hurt caused to any PFF official is deeply regretted.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2015

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