KARACHI Pakistan hockey officials, who proudly claim of bringing huge amount of money into the national federation's kitty, are liable to pay Rs 174,500 of a sacked employee who has appealed to the prime minister to help him recover the amount.
 
Imtiaz Baig, a former Karachi-based Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) accountant, has urged the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to intervene and ask the hockey officials to release the amount which he had been waiting for the last six months.
 
On behalf of the former PHF employee, his wife Shafia Imtiaz has sent a letter to the prime minister and chairman of National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports, Jamshaid Dasti, on Sept 5, 2009, saying that her husband was sacked after baseless allegations by the PHF secretary Asif Bajwa on Feb 10, 2009.
 
But before his removal, she said, since PHF Karachi Camp Office at Hockey Club of Pakistan was short of cash, her husband was asked to spend an amount of Rs 94,500 to meet the PHF expenditures.
 
The amount was for paying gas bill, air tickets, construction of posts for TV cameras, cellphone bills of Asif Bajwa and selector Rana Mujahid, surety bonds of national team players, insurance and catering bills for the officials during series between Pakistan senior and junior teams.
 
Apart from the said amount which was yet to be paid back, Shafia said, her husband had also provided Rs 80,000 to help PHF meet the expenses during 2006-07, but the federation had not paid back the money, although it had been recorded in the audit book.
 
She said the amount was spent by her husband on PHF expenditures after the assurance by the Karachi Camp Office that the money would be paid back once the details of the expenses would be received by Lahore-based PHF headquarters.
 
It has been further alleged in the letter by her that although PHF treasurer Gulfaraz Ahmad Khan had been requested in writing through letters dispatched by courier three times to pay back the amount, he didn't pay heed despite the lapse of six months.
 
She said the PHF treasurer was apprised that her husband had been rendered jobless by the PHF secretary and now she needed money for eye surgery of her son, but she never heard from the official.
 
'I was told by PHF director administration Karachi Camp Office, Iftikhar Syed, that I will get my money back whenever the cheque is released from Lahore. But I am yet to receive a single penny of that amount,' Imtiaz told Dawn.com on Saturday.
 
His wife further wrote to prime minister that since there was no source of income after her husband lost his job, it had become impossible to pay medical bills, school fee and daily expenses, especially because of inflation.
 
'Although PHF has spent millions on hockey since the sacking of my husband, our money has not been paid back which proves that it is a vendetta against my husband. I request you to investigate and punish those who are involved in this and save us from begging to meet our expenses,' she wrote.
 
Imtiaz had already sued Asif, seeking Rs 34.68million in damages for what he claims was illegal sacking. The case is pending against the PHF official in Sindh High Court.
 
Ironically, the government is believed to have allocated Rs 120million grant for the PHF recently, while PHF is spending Rs 150,000 on lucky draw in the ongoing Junior Super Hockey League in Karachi in a bid to attract crowds.