Stanford arrested and charged with massive fraud

It has been reported that Allen Stanford has been arrested and charged with fraud by US authorities.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said that they were "alleging a fraud of shocking magnitude".

The ECB reacted to the news with a statement saying it and the West Indies board had "suspended negotiations with Sir Allen Stanford and his financial corporation concerning a new sponsorship deal".

Earlier today the SEC accused Stanford, the head of the Stanford Financial Group, of fraud in the sale of about US$8 billion of high-yielding certificates of deposit held in the firm's bank in Antigua. James M. Davis, a director and chief financial officer of Stanford Group, was also arrested

The SEC said it could not account for the US$8 billion in assets that were housed in the Antigua bank after issuing subpoenas for bank records and to various witnesses. Most of those subpoenaed, including Davis and Stanford, failed to testify or produce documents relating to the assets.

The SEC went on to describe claims by the bank that it paid "significantly" higher returns on its CDs because of the high quality of its investments as "improbable, if not impossible". It is believed that Stanford and Davis's assets have been frozen pending further investigations and that their passports have been confiscated.

The SEC's investigation into Stanford Financial Group comes at a time it is under considerable pressure inside the USA for its inaction regarding the multi-billion Bernard L. Madoff case.

Rise and fall

Feb 25: Stanford reveals his plan for a $20 million Twenty20 match which he calls the “OK Corral” of cricket.
June 11: Stanford signs a five-year $100m deal with the ECB. He lands his helicopter at Lord’s before having his photograph taken with a chest of dollar bills.
Oct 27: The Stanford Super Series gets off to a bad start when he sits the pregnant wife of England wicketkeeper Matt Prior on his knee. Stanford issues apology to the team.
Oct 28: A party for England and the Superstars is cancelled as Stanford avoids a public meeting with Kevin Pietersen’s team.
Oct 29: ECB announce a review of the Stanford deal, three days before the $20m match takes place.
Nov 1: England are thrashed by 10 wickets as the Stanford Superstars team, led by Chris Gayle, become dollar millionaires.
Dec 17: Stanford sacks his board of legends, which included Sir Viv Richards and Sir Garfield Sobers, and closes his office in Antigua. His deal with the ECB looks dead.
Feb 11: Announces the end of his $20m match after one year but confirms the Stanford Quadrangular will take place at Lord’s in May.
Feb 17: Securites and Exchange Commission charge Sir Allen Stanford and three associates with alleged fraud 'of shocking magnitude'.

Dhaka to host inaugural match along with opening ceremony of the 2011 World Cup

Dhaka will host the inaugural match and the opening ceremony of the 2011 ICC World Cup on Feb. 19, said a BCB official on Tuesday.

Bangladesh Cricket Board media committee chairman Jalal Younus told bdnews24.com the ICC meeting on Tuesday decided to stage both the inaugural match and opening ceremony on Feb 19, 2011.

It had earlier decided that Bangladesh would organise the opening ceremony of the cricket extravaganza and the co-hosts are now set to stage the inaugural match as well.

Younus said that the opening ceremony would be a one-and-half hour programme and then the inaugural match would take place.

The BCB spokesman informed that BCB senior vice-president Mahbubul Anam and director Shafiqur Rahman Munna attended the ICC meeting in New Delhi.

Representatives of the ICC, including chief executive Haroon Lorgat, also attended the meeting to discuss ongoing plans for the ICC World Cup 2011, which will take place in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in two years' time.

"Among other things, it was decided that subject to final ICC Board approval, the opening ceremony for the event would take place in Bangladesh on 19 February 2011 and the tournament would be shorter than the one that took place in the West Indies in 2007," said ICC press release available here.

The statement also said that the meeting also discussed the issue of safety and security.
http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?cid=26&id=76634&hb=2

Taibu will 'expose corruption' in Zimbabwe

Former Zimbabwe captain Tatenda Taibu, who faces a trial over allegations he assaulted a leading cricket official, has pledged to use his day in court to blow the lid on "corruption" in the game, his lawyer said.

Taibu has been accused of assaulting Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) general manager Esther Lupepe last year. She claims that he grabbed her by the collar and jostled her during a confrontation over outstanding salary and expenses payments.

He was due to appear at Rotten Row magistrates court on Friday, but because he is on tour in Kenya, the trial has been put back, probably until mid-March, according to his lawyer Jonathan Samkange.

Samkange is reported to have stated at an earlier hearing that Taibu would take the opportunity to "expose corruption" in ZC.

The national cricket body, led by controversial chairman Peter Chingoka, were stunned when the magistrate ordered ZC to produce all accounts relating to players for audit.

ZC have protested that this was irrelevant to the legal proceedings.

Taibu, the country's leading run-maker and long-established wicketkeeper, was the spokesman for a striking group of players in 2005 and he declared he would not perform in Zimbabwe colours while Chingoka remained in charge.

He was eventually persuaded to return to the team after pursuing his club career in South Africa and Bangladesh.

Taibu told the earlier court hearing that the assault charge is an attempt to discredit him after he made claims that there had been dubious financial dealings within the national body.

http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-sport/taibu-to-expose-corruption-in-zimbabwe-20090207-806p.html

IPL for Shakib

Bangladesh and world's top all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan may join the Bangalore Royal Challenge as a replacement for left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak in the high-profile Indian Premier League (IPL).

Although Shakib was not available to make any comment a sources close to the Bangladesh Cricket Board said that it's matter of time before the official announcement will come from the franchise.

The number one ranked all-rounder in ODIs will be the third Bangladeshi after captain Mohammad Ashraful and his deputy Mashrafe Bin Mortaza to join the IPL if it is officially confirmed.

Razzak played for the Bangalore Royal Challenge as the lone Bangladeshi player in the IPL last year. But the left-arm spinner is now going through a rehabilitation programme after being called for suspect action during the home series against New Zealand in November.

Shakib was one of the four Bangladeshi cricketers who were up in last Friday's IPL auction but much to the surprise of many in-form left-hander failed to entice a buyer along with dashing opener Tamim Iqbal.

Mashrafee, Ashraful get picked for IPL, Sakib left out

In the most dramatic bidding for players in the Indian Primer League to date, Bangladesh vice-captain Mashrafee bin Murtaza was purchased by Kolkata Knight Riders at a whopping $600,000 in Goa on Friday.
Bidding on Mashrafee had started with a base price of $50,000 but his figures kept climbing steadily with the Kings XI Punjab hot on the heels of the Knight Riders before the Kolkata side roped him for 12 times his starting price.
Bangladesh skipper Mohammad Ashraful rode on his luck to win a contract at a time when it seemed the auction was well over. Mumbai Indians snapped him up at his base price $75,000.
Sakib al Hasan, the world’s top ranked all-rounder in ODIs, however, did not get a buyer surprisingly. Also unsold was opening batsman Tamim Iqbal, the other Bangladeshi player on the auction.
Initially there were no bids for Mashrafee either. But just before the hammer went down, Kolkata made a bid for $50,000. It was the start of the most dramatic sale at the auction that lasted nearly half an hour.
Kings XI Punjab entered the race almost immediately and the price started climbing up by $10,000 with every call. The raises were slow and the bidding went on and on and on. Kolkata touched the $500,000 mark first and Punjab went further to $550,000.
To the utter disbelief of everyone present, Kolkata, raised their call to $600,000 and at this point the tug of war between two best-looking film actresses of India Juhi Chawla and Preity Zinta for the Bangladesh pacer ended.
Juhi, the co-owner of Knight Riders, was calling for her team accompanied by coach Buchanan while Preity was calling for her King XI side alongside partner Ness Wadia. Preity was clearly frustrated, and later revealed that she was desperate to have Mashrafee on her side.
‘(Masharfee) Murtaza is a great player, an all-rounder and we wanted him. But you win some, you lose some,’ Preity later told reporters.
Mashrafee’s price was a record in the IPL. His price increased by 1100 per cent than his base price. Indian pacer Ishant Sharma held the record previously with $950,000 -575 per cent higher than his base price, also from Knight Riders last year.
...
Like his other team-mates on auction, Masharfee bin Murtaza was also reluctant to speak publicly about his Indian Premier League prospect before the auction in Goa on Friday.
But to the close circle he had revealed at least two facts. The first one was a recent phone call from Shahrukh Khan, the owner of Kolkata Knight Riders and the second was a promise made by Kings XI Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh.
Last year Mohammad Rafique had claimed to have gotten a call from Shahrukh, which later proved to be a false as the Knight Riders never came up with any offer for him publicly and the Bangladesh spinner went on to join the Indian Cricket League.
Mashrafee was careful to talk about his call from Shahrukh, but everyone close to the all-rounder knew that King Khan had in fact requested him to withdraw his name from the auction.
Shahrukh promised to take him in the squad as a replacement of Pakistani players. But Mashrafee humbly turned down the request and decided to try his luck. He knew for sure that at least Kings XI will be bidding for him as promised by Yuvraj last year.
Unlike Rafique, Mashrafee proved correct in his claims as both Shahrukh’s Knight Riders and Yuvraj’s Kings XI, made an intense bidding for him that lasted nearly 30 minutes and took his price to an astounding $6,00,000

Bad decision

What exactly is the definition of "crucial decision"? Choice of Power Play, slog over bowling option, fielding set up.

I believe that it is a very simple solution of a much complex problem. Making a decision in the right time is always difficult job. A person makes a decision according to his plan and judgment and most of the time he is not sure about the success. So, clearly it is like gamble. It is expected that most of the time one will win. However, sometimes bad things happen and this creates negative impact upon his future decision.

Now, in this precarious situation if any person get another four people’s decision and judgment, surely he will be perplexed. How will he makes his decision? coin toss, nepotism? My guess is Ashraful will make the final decision. We all know that Ashraful know all types of cricket shots but he is not a good manager to choose his shots. So does it change anything very much?

It will create rift inside the team. For example, if Ashraful accepts the decision of Mashrafe, then it might create a bad impression on other three’s mind unless Ashraful give a explanation about this. Ashraful might loose his reputation among the junior members of the team because he is less powerful.

So, overall I do not think it is a wise move. The success of this new system again depends upon solely on Ashraful.

Ashraful retains his captaincy

Bangladesh will retain Mohammad Ashraful as national captain for a limited overs home series against Pakistan in March and the Twenty20 World Cup in England in June.

Ashraful has been under pressure after scoring only 12 runs in three one-day internationals at home against Zimbabwe last month.

A Bangladesh Cricket Board spokesman said on Saturday Ashraful's position would be reviewed before a tour of West Indies following the World Cup.

"We have decided to give him more time. He will remain under observation during the period," he said after a board executive meeting.

The spokesman said pace bowler Mashrafe Mortaza and wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim were potential replacements.