The Pakistan Super League (PSL) accounts have raised concerns as top auditors identified significant irregularities totaling Rs14 billion. Documents obtained by the Hum Investigation Team (HIT) highlight non-transparent contracts and losses in the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) financial records.
One contract, valued at Rs1.4 billion for TV broadcasting rights, lacked transparency. The PCB incurred losses of Rs908 million due to an irregular advance payment to vendors, attributed to the absence of structured financial regulations as per the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) report.
Additionally, the failure to authorize a joint bidder for PSL 7-8 TV broadcast rights, amounting to Rs4.3 billion, and irregularities in renewing franchisees’ percentage share for the central income pool resulted in a loss of Rs1.6 billion, as per the audit findings.
The auditors highlighted the PCB’s failure to provide records or address recommendations regarding these transactions. Despite repeated reminders, the PCB management did not fulfill their commitment to share these details with HIT.
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The audit revealed that the PCB board awarded a non-transparent contract worth Rs1.4 billion for TV broadcasting rights, violating clause 3(3) of PCB Constitution SRO 43(KE)/2014, which stresses transparent operations. Agreements with M/S Techfront and M/s Blitz for Global and Local TV broadcasting rights led to a failure in recovering the Global Live Streaming amount, totaling Rs194.741 million.
A specialized audit also unveiled a non-transparent contract valued at Rs338 million with M/S Transgroup FZE for selling Instadia sponsorship rights. Additionally, another non-transparent contract of Rs181 million was granted for the sale of live streaming rights.
The PCB management engaged in non-transparent deals with M/S Khaleef and Transgroup FZE for graphic interchange rights (Rs46 million) and truck branding rights (Rs15 million) respectively. Another agreement with M/s Transgroup FZE/ITW Consulting FZE for Instadia sponsorship rights (gold, silver, umpire) worth US$ 7.805 million led to a payment of Rs147 million due to an unjustified provision for doubtful debts.
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Additionally, the PCB failed to recover outstanding dues of Rs133 million from M/s Khaleef Technologies Incorporated. The audit team uncovered that the PCB risked PSL revenue by not securing bank security from franchises, granting PSL team franchise rights to various franchises for PSL-V for an amount of Rs3.2 billion.
The auditors discovered a lack of authorization for one of the joint bidders for PSL 7-8 TV broadcast rights, amounting to Rs4.3 billion. Additionally, an irregular broadcasting contract was granted to an FM radio, leaving outstanding dues of Rs14.274 million unrecovered.
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Another issue highlighted by auditors was the failure to recover Global TV Broadcast fee worth Rs1 billion. Moreover, the PCB management’s decision to roll over Rs758,745,086 in Habib Metropolitan Bank Limited for a year led to unauthorized absorption of incremental costs, resulting in a loss of Rs723 million for the PCB.
The PCB took on additional costs totaling Rs178 million and USD 2.4 million (equivalent to Rs545 million) for the remaining 20 matches of PSL 6 held in the UAE. These costs, covering foreign players’ travel and accommodation, match fees, daily allowances, and extra production expenses, amounted to Rs178 million and USD 2.4 million. Instead of charging these fees to the franchises, they were incorrectly recorded by the PCB.
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The auditors also uncovered an irregular renewal of the franchisees’ percentage share for the central pool of income, leading to a Rs1.6 billion loss incurred by the PCB. Additionally, the PCB awarded a non-transparent contract for the sale of live streaming rights valued at US$ 3 million.
The PCB made an agreement with Blitz Advertising Pvt Ltd for television broadcast and live streaming rights, totaling US$ 3 million. However, the PCB failed to deduct income tax on a prize money payment of Rs32 million. They disbursed Rs213 million as prize money to match winners and players during PSL-5 (4 matches) and PSL-VI.
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Auditors noted that the PCB management in Lahore recorded Rs147 million as doubtful debts in the profit and loss statement of PSL-6 during the financial year 2020-21.
