Politics took center stage at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday after its interim setup rejected a comparison of expenses undertaken by the current chair of its management committee, Najam Sethi, and former chairman Ramiz Raja, describing it as "misleading and inaccurate."
Sethi, a journalist and former PCB chairman who is widely believed to be close to the leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, was appointed interim head of the board last week while Raja was sacked by the prime minister. As per Pakistani law, the prime minister is the patron-in-chief of the PCB.
Raja, a former Test cricketer who played under ex-PM Khan’s captaincy, was appointed the board’s chairman by Khan in September 2021. Ever since his ouster, Raja has spoken out against PM Sharif’s government for dismissing him, accusing it of “political interference” in cricketing affairs.
A document on the PCB’s official website showed Sethi utilized Rs 40,539,201 from July 2017 to August 2018 as the chairman of the board. As per the same document, Raja spent Rs 5,640,137 from September 2021 to June 2022 during his tenure as PCB chair.
When asked whether he intends to send a legal notice to Raja for the claims, Sethi said there is “no point” to it.
“Legal notices never amount to much,” Sethi told Arab News via text. “PCB has given a rejoinder. We shall publish the correct data soon,” he added.
In its rejoinder, the PCB said Raja’s comparison of expenses with Sethi’s during his previous tenure is “misleading and inaccurate as the circumstances are incomparable.”
“Former Chairman Mr.Raja’s comparison about his and the current Chairman Mr.Sethi’s expenses during his previous term is misleading and inaccurate as the circumstances are incomparable,” the PCB said in a statement.
The board clarified that from 2016-2018, the Pakistan Super League (PSL) — Pakistan’s professional T20 cricket league — was held in the UAE due to which Sethi had to undertake frequent trips abroad.
“However, no PSL allowances have ever been paid to current Chairman Mr.Sethi and this information has been merely presented as a potential payable,” the PCB said, adding that all PSL matches held under Raja’s tenure as PCB chair were held in Pakistan.
The PCB said even Pakistan’s home matches against various international teams were held in the UAE during Sethi’s previous tenure. It said due to this, Sethi had to undertake “frequent visits to the UAE for PSL and bilateral series and for related meetings.” Due to this, the board said his foreign expenses were high.
“All travel expenses were approved by the appropriate authorities and were duly audited (internally and externally),” the board added.
The PCB said that as the board’s chief, Sethi was provided a car allowance by the Board of Governors (BoG) as he was using his personal armored vehicle due to security reasons. “On the contrary, the PCB provided former Chairman Mr.Raja a brand new armored vehicle costing PKR16.5million,” it added.
The board said Sethi was granted additional security as he was the former Punjab chief minister and had been apprised of security threats by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies.
“It is pertinent to remember current Chairman Mr.Sethi had sent a legal notice to the PCB regarding the table of expenses as soon as these were made public through the PCB corporate website,” the board concluded.
