Former PCB COO to take legal action against Board

Islamabad, Jan 12 (ANI): Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Operating Officer Shafqat Naghmi has said that he would take legal action against the present management of the board for levelling baseless allegations against him and "maligning his name."

The PCB on Friday issued a press statement saying that the ongoing renovation work at the Gaddafi Stadium Lahore had been halted after "discovery of massive irregularities" in the construction of the Far End Pavilion.

The present administration, led by chairman Ijaz Butt, placed the blame fully on Shafqat in a strong-worded, no-holds barred statement.

"I am sending a legal notice for this humiliation. The PCB management had launched a malicious campaign against him," Shafqat said.

"The allegations against me are so preposterous and self-contradictory that it make me laugh at their mentality," he added.

He said the architect of the Gaddafi Stadium pavilion was not selected for the job because he was his personal friend, but due to his experience in designing the Multan Cricket Stadium, Punjab Football Stadium and several other stadiums in the country.

"He was selected on the basis of an open advertisement that was published in all the leading newspapers in which about 11 individuals and companies applied."

Shafqat said PCB managers Zahid Hussain (projects) and Javed Khan (procurement) recommended the appointment of M/s Khalil ur Rehman and Associates as consultant-architect and both of them were still working with the present management of the PCB.

"This selection was later approved by the PCB chairman and the governing board." He claimed that 70 percent work was completed on the project when he left his job on October 26 and its cost was only Rs 140 million.

"How can the remaining 30 percent work cost Rs 330 million as claimed by the brainless and obtuse mind writing the media release. At best, the remaining work could only have cost a further Rs 60 million," he said.

Shafqat said the present management was trying to humiliate him because he wrote to the federal sports ministry to carry out a five-year audit of the PCB affairs through the Auditor General of Pakistan. (ANI)