Karachi, Nov.27 (ANI): Massive irregularities have been uncovered in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) during a comprehensive audit covering a period of the last five financial years from 2003 to 2008.

The audit conducted by the government agencies has revealed wide scale fallacies and financial mismanagement during the regimes of last three PCB chairmen Tauqir Zia, Shaharyar Khan and Nasim Ashraf.

According to the report, the PCB’s annual expenditures have nearly doubled from 571 million rupees in 2004 to 1.8 billion rupees in 2008. The board recorded a surplus budget of just over 1 billion rupees in 2004, but by 2008 it amazingly suffered staggering loss. The loss was so high that the board’s accounts went into a deficit of 130 million rupees.

“Money has been lost from non-recovery of rent (nearly 25 million rupees), it has been squandered and not recovered on legal bills of players such as Mohammad Yousuf and Mohammad Asif (over 20 million rupees),” the audit report has revealed.

The report also disclosed that over 150 million rupees were taken out from the PCB’s bank accounts without proper documentation, The News reports.

During the audit it was also discovered that millions of rupees were released for giving salaries to former cricketers without any check.

When enquired about the issue, PCB chief Ijaz Butt said claimed that Ashraf had paid 10.5 million rupees to former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq.

It was revealed before the committee that Haq had reportedly declined to bring the issue on record to avoid tax liabilities. (ANI)