Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Corruption of billions of rupees, misuse of authority and misappropriation of funds in the Pakistan Sports Board has come to the surface.

A report was presented in the parliamentary committee in which it was revealed that the big bosses of the PSB embezzled Rs 25 million in awarding a contract of air conditioning and heating of the Liaquat Gymnasium, situated at the Sports Complex in Islamabad.

The report also said that the high-ups of the Sports Board also swallowed Rs 26 million in the construction of a boxing gymnasium. The original contract’s cost was Rs 34 million whereas Rs 60 million were paid to the contractors M/S Sachal Traders. An investigation is under way into the corruption on a very high scale.

The report also showed that the Pakistan Sports Board kept some 174 ghost employees and got Rs 10.49 million on account of their pay and allowances. The employees were hired in the name of emergency.

Afterwards the services of 97 employees were made permanent and 74 staff members were temporary.

The report also showed that three 1300 CC luxurious cars of the PSB are in the use of the sports minister, and he is not returning the same to the PSB.

The report also revealed that Rs 4.3 million were embezzled in the welfare fund of the staff , which was deducted at the rate of two per cent from the salary of each employee.

The fibre chairs installed for spectators at the Jinnah Stadium Islamabad have been broken into pieces and they are in a such a plight that no one can sit in these chairs. The three swimming polls situated in the Sport Complex have been closed for the players as they are in such appalling condition that tiles fixed in the same are smashed from every nook and corner. The swimming pool that was made for the practice sessions of swimmers has changed into a ditch of mud.

The DG Sports Board Akhtar Nawaz Ganjira also told a lie to the Senate Standing Committee that 90 per cent of the physical work on the bio-technical laboratory was completed but as a matter of fact the incomplete infrastructure of the building of the lab was standing on the ground.

The parliamentary committee showed resentment on the corruption in the Pakistan Sports Board . The committee in its meeting took a viewpoint that once in the past Pakistan was recognised in the field of sports . But now the corruption in the sports institutions had penetrated so much that it also affected the performance of international players.

The committee remarked that if the corruption of the sports controlling authorities was not eradicated then the name of Pakistan would become a history in sports.