Karachi, April 24 (Inditop) The Pakistani media Friday questioned a lavish spending spree by top officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and their guests, who are in Dubai to watch their one-day series against Australia.
Several Pakistani dailies reported that the PCB, which has been complaining of severe financial problems in recent times, will be spending over 20 million Pakistani rupees on the stay of its senior officials and guests in Dubai and Abu Dhabi during the April 22-May 7 series.
Almost the entire top brass of the PCB has left the board headquarters in Lahore and is now currently in Dubai, where the series in underway.
The PCB had claimed a few months back that it is on the verge of bankruptcy because of the refusal of leading foreign teams to visit the country. But in spite of such claims, media reports said that the PCB has sent a big contingent of officials to watch the one-day international series in UAE.
The PCB, which has laid off dozens of its low-paid employees in recent months as a part of an austerity drive, has flown its officials in business class to Dubai and also given them a lucrative daily allowance to spend.
Such reports are likely to irk the Senate’s sports committee that has been extensively probing PCB affairs over the past six months.
Sources told IANS Friday that some of the committee members are unhappy over such reports and are planning to summon the senior PCB officials for a meeting in Islamabad soon after the conclusion of the one-day series to investigate the matter.
rounak