LAHORE, Aug 4: Former Test cricketer and member PCB Governing Board Ijaz Butt has resigned from the sub-committee formed to oversee the Avant Hotels Private Limited project, expressing apprehension over some of the financial irregularities, reliable sources told Dawn.

The sub-committee for the project - a joint venture of the cricket board and the Pakistan International Airlines Investment Limited (PIAIL) - was constituted in March this year after some Governing Board members raised serious objections over the deal between the two national institutions.

According to the deal, the PCB and PIAIL reached an agreement during February 2008 to build a hotel at the precious 5.8 acres land adjacent to the National Stadium, Karachi.

In fact, the deal was reached in order to settle an old loan of about USD140,000 borrowed by the PCB from PIA way back in 1980.

The sub-committee, however, raised objections as to how did the loan mounted to a whopping eventual figure of USD35 million which the PCB now, apparently, owes the PIAIL.

Furthermore, the members had reservations over the alarmingly low land rates - Rs 4 per square feet - offered to a private company for building the hotel at the NSK property.

Interestingly, the PCB despite being the custodian of the precious land is ready to give a major share of the hotel’s profit to PIAIL (62.5 per cent) and is content to receive just 37.5 per cent.

As things stand today, the PCB and the PIAIL have failed to address the issues raised by the governing board members. According to reports, the PCB has gone ahead with the pro-

ject, thus giving little or no importance to the objections raised.

Ijaz, disgusted over the whole scenario, wrote a letter to PCB’s Chief Operating Officer, Shafqat Naghmi on May 19, 2008, asking him to clarify the situation which was in turn passed on to the PIAIL by Naghmi instead of giving a direct reply.

This further provoked Ijaz who finally resigned from the committee, citing dissatisfaction over the deal.

The sources said that the PCB was trying its best to convince Ijaz to revert his decision and has asked him to attend the next meeting of the sub-committee, scheduled for Aug 11.

To set Aug 11 as the meeting date is indeed quite surprising since PCB chairman, Dr Nasim Ashraf has already deferred the issue till the next meeting of the Governing Board which is scheduled to be held on Aug 30.

When contacted, Ijaz confirmed that he had resigned from the sub-committee but shied away from disclosing the reasons behind it.

When pressed further, he said, “The governing board members are not merely a rubber stamp.”