LAHORE: There has been a significant reduction in the expenses pertaining to Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and his office during the past one year, according to the details available on the official website of the PCB.

PCB’s incumbent chairman Ehsan Mani has been at the helm since Sept 4, 2018 and until June 30, 2019 the details show his total expenditure being Rs 10,359,076 in the heads of accommodation, vehicle allowance, utility and mobile phone bills, costs of security guards and servants, travelling allowance - both international and domestic - meeting allowance and business entertainment.

Mani has not yet charged any amount as accommodation allowance but he did charge Rs 404,036 as accommodation expenses (hotel expenses for stay) and moreover cost of rented accommodation as Rs 2,621,012. So far he did not make any expense in other heads like medical expenses, family travelling and cost of fuel and repair of generator and for Pakistan Super League (PSL) Allowance.

According to the website, former chairman PCB Najam Sethi’s expenses from July 2017 to August 2018 are Rs 40,539,201, are four times bigger to Mani. According to the website’s information, Mani did not claim allowances, accommodation and entertainment amounting to Rs Rs 8,176,719, which he could receive legally.

The PSL Allowance amounting to Rs 14,181,570 being claimed by Sethi and certain other allowances/benefits amounting to Rs 7,274,429 are disputed by PCB. The payment of the PSL Allowance was stopped and Sethi has filed a claim in the courts for payment of the same, according to the website. PCB has filed a recovery claim against Sethi for repayment of the other allowances/ benefits amounting to Rs. 7,274,429.

Meanwhile, when contacted Sethi told Dawn that his expense were bigger because he as chairman was working alone while Mani has hired highly-paid three officers, besides being at the helm by himself, so they are in total four against one.”

“I was doing the job alone for which now Chairman, MD, (now CEO), a retired government officer and then media director are working. But I was doing the work of all these four people alone. I was to deal all the affairs with the government by myself. Please also add their expenses too to Mani’s expenses. My expenses are on travel for PSL purposes and also for bringing international cricket back. Plus travel for legal case against BCCI. He (Mani) got everything ready made. Didn’t have to travel,” Sethi said.

When asked Amjad Bhatti was doing the job as Director Media, Sethi says:”Amjad’s job was mainly PR with media. But he (Amjad) was also head of Coordination with other directors. I was handling media myself.”

It may be mentioned that Sethi launched the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in 2016 successfully and travelled to UAE and Qatar on many times to book the stadia as no one was ready to come to Pakistan to participate in the PSL. During Sethi’s tenure, international cricket was also resumed as besides the PSL matches were also held,the national teams of Sri Lanka, West Indies and the World XI also toured Pakistan.

Moreover, Sethi said he had filed a case against the PCB for not releasing the amount of around Rs 10.40 million for his PSL allowances for three years, which were approved by the Board of Governors. “First the current body claimed that I had received the PSL allowances, but when I denied it and asked it to pay him three years PSL allowances as approved by Board of Governors they refused it as I moved to the court. It is a law that no decision of the BoG could be turned by anyone so as my PSL allowances were approved by the BoG and it is my right to get it,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2019