New Delhi: A raid by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency on the country’s cricket board office riled up former board chief Najam Sethi. He came out in defence of a “valued professional” — ticketing head Mahvish Omer. But in accusing the FIA of misbehaving with the staff and batting for Omer, Sethi has pressed a sensitive nerve of Pakistani fans who have long witnessed the missing accountability of institutions.
The raid was based on the accusation of embezzlement of money through e-ticketing sales of PSL made by a company ‘Bookme’, Sethi said.
According to local reports, the FIA raided the PCB office late Monday night, seized records and arrested a few officials involved with the sale of tickets during the New Zealand-Pakistan T20 series that took place in January this year.
There were, however, some Pakistanis who did not agree with Sethi’s claims. They said even Sethi’s policies (when he was PCB chief) had impacted the board and that he should not be defending corrupt officers. Another user said that it was Sethi who had set the precedent by ousting Ramiz Raja.
In December 2022, former cricketer Raja was removed as chairman of PCB by the government. Raja and other PCB board members were replaced by a 14-member management committee led by former board head Najam Sethi. This was following the team’s 3-0 loss to England in the 2022 Test series.
“Accountability is most important. What you and Zaka Ashraf did in PCB not hidden from us. Both of you responsible for destroying unity in the team, both of you responsible for starting an agenda against one of the batsman Babar Azam. Now you are going to defend corrupt workers (sic),” an X user commented.
Yet another said that it was Mohsin Raza Naqvi, interior minister and chairman of PCB, who ordered the raid. They questioned how a startup could be influential enough to order a raid.
“Mohsin Naqvi Sb probably ordered the raid since he controls both PCB and FIA. I’d in fact ask the authorities to investigate how Bookme owners were so influential to order a raid. This looks like a case of Whose daughter is whose wife and whose sister is whose daughter in law,” the post said.
BookMe is a Pakistani startup that conducted the Asia Cup in Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 2023.
According to Pakistani media reports, BookMe was the first Pakistani company to exclusively handle Asia Cup tickets. It is a Pakistani e-ticketing platform known for digitising tickets and bookings in travel, hotels, tours, and events with a customer base of over 10 million.
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Personal grudges
In his post, Sethi said that despite choosing to not comment on the state of affairs in PCB, the arrest had ‘compelled’ him to highlight how the accusations levelled against Omer were “absurd”. He also called it “one party’s personal grudge”.
“Mahvish has played a pivotal role in the growth of Pakistan Cricket – first in the PSL and then in managing ticketing as international cricket returned to Pakistan. She was accused by the FIA of embezzling PKR 80,000. To give you context, the sale of PSL 2023 was around 60 Crores. This accusation is absurd,” Sethi said.
He also called upon Naqvi to investigate the matter.
“It is appalling that a valued professional in PCB was treated with such disdain and high-handedness all because of one party’s personal grudge who has used its contacts to perpetrate this madness,” his post read.
According to TheNation, it was only after a series of complaints, that the Interior Ministry ordered an investigation into PCB scams.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)