- Arbitration court rules in favor of Fawad Rana and QALCO.
- Atif and Sameen Rana must return majority shares or pay Rs 2.3 billion.
- The court gave 45 days to enforce the order.
- The case is likely to go to appeal.
- PCB asked not to make major decisions until the issue is resolved.
A long-running ownership dispute between the Rana brothers has now reached an arbitration court. The court has issued a decision that may change who controls the Lahore Qalandars franchise.
An arbitration court has ruled that Atif and Sameen Rana must either return control of Lahore Qalandars to their elder brother Fawad Rana’s company, Qatar Lubricants Company (QALCO), or pay Rs 2.3 billion.
The court gave 45 days for the order to be enforced. Atif Rana has confirmed that his legal team will appeal the decision.
The ruling was issued by Justice (r) Maqbool Baqer, appointed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
How the Ownership Fight Started
In 2015, Fawad Rana bought the Lahore Qalandars franchise through QALCO for $26 million. In 2016, the brothers created a Pakistani company in their mother’s name called Kausar Rana Resource (KRR) to run the team in Pakistan.
QALCO held 51% of KRR, Atif held 48%, and Fawad kept 1% in his own name. In 2018, 4% of QALCO’s shares were transferred to Atif Rana. This reduced QALCO’s control and led to the dispute.
Court Ruling on Share Transfers
The court said the share transfers were not valid and ordered KRR to pay Rs 2.3 billion to QALCO. This amount was listed in KRR’s audited financial statements. If KRR does not pay, it must return QALCO’s 51% shareholding. The court also ordered KRR to explain profits from a disputed sale of 30% shares to a person named “Mr Niazi.”
Atif Rana said he will challenge the decision and take the matter to appeal. Meanwhile, QALCO has written to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), asking them not to make any major decisions with Atif and Sameen until the court order is followed.
