The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has failed to recover funds misappropriated in its name after abandoning an internal inquiry that uncovered serious financial irregularities involving one of its bank accounts.
In February 2021, then PHF president Brig (retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar had formed a fact-finding committee when it was revealed that an unauthorized PHF account was operating in Sindh Bank — an account not reflected in the federation’s official financial records.
The committee, led by Olympian Asif Bajwa, who was PHF secretary at the time, submitted a report urging strict action. The findings stated:
“The committee’s opinion clearly establishes gross financial irregularities and abuse of authority in the management of PHF’s Sindh Bank account. This incident is especially damaging in an already resource-constrained environment.”
Although the funds in question came from private donations rather than public or government sources, the report emphasized that the severity of the issue remained unchanged and warranted immediate corrective action.
The committee had advised several steps, including asking former secretary general Shahbaz Ahmed to produce relevant bank statements and coordinate with ex-finance officer Adnan Shahid to deposit any unaccounted funds back into PHF accounts. It further recommended filing an FIR against Shahid if he failed to comply and documenting the missing funds as receivables in PHF’s financial statements, with commercial auditors’ input.
Despite the lodging of an FIR at a local police station, no concrete steps were taken. Khokhar eventually resigned from his position in February last year, handing over responsibilities to Tariq Hussain Bugti, who initially promised action but has since made little progress.
The FIA is now investigating the embezzlement case, and former Olympians like Hanif Khan and Khalid Bashir have publicly called for stronger action. However, a PHF official, speaking anonymously to Dawn, claimed there is no official record of the committee’s report — further casting doubt on the federation’s intent to resolve the issue.
