FIA asked to put under-probe PHF officials on ECL

LAHORE: The Pakistan Hockey Federation in a letter sent to the Federal Interior Ministry has asked it to put the names of five former PHF officials on the exit control list (ECL) amid investigation by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against them in some cases of corruption allegedly committed between 2008 and 2023.

“Some cases [of corruption] are under investigation in the FIA and the inquiries are going on there.

The names of some [PHF] officials have been put on the ECL until the completion of these inquiries and a letter in this regard has been sent to the Interior Ministry,“ newly-appointed PHF president Tariq Hussain Bugti said in a video message.

“We will not allow anyone to flee the country until the inquiry is completed. If they [PHF officials concerned] are proved innocent, their names will be withdrawn from the ECL, otherwise strict action will be taken and all the looted money of the PHF will be taken back from them,” the PHF president emphasised.

The decision of writing the letter to the Federal Interior Ministry was taken late on Tuesday as Tariq received information that some former PHF officials were trying to leave the country covertly as they face FIA inquiries in different cases.

It may be mentioned here that the Auditor General of Pakistan had raised several objections in PHF accounts of 2014 to 2022 — the period during most of which retired Brig Khalid Sajjad Khokhar was the president of the federation.

Recently, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar as PHF patron-in-chief removed Khokhar as the federation chief and appointed Tariq Bugti on an ad-hoc basis.

However, Khokhar did not accept the decision and some reports indicate that he has moved the honourable court in Islamabad against the decision.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2023