Sethi had nothing to do with selling PCB rights: Imran hospital audit body chief

 

LONDON: The former president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and a senior Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) adviser Ehsan Mani has said that Najam Sethi, ex-PCB chairman, had nothing to do with the bidding procedures or sports rights for the cricket series against Sri Lanka.
Geo TV’s detractors and Najam Sethi’s critics, without presenting any evidence, have alleged that Sethi, who hosts one of the most watched current affairs shows on Geo called ‘Aapas Ki Baat’, may have helped Geo Super get the sporting rights for the Pakistan-Sri Lanka series held in the United Arab Emirates last year.

But in an exclusive interview over phone with this correspondent from France, Ehsan Mani, who was the head of the PCB committee that approved the Geo Sports’ bid for the Sri Lanka/South Africa series, expressed shock that such baseless allegations were aired without giving any thought to the facts.

Ehsan Mani is a board member of Imran Khan’s Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital and a friend of Imran Khan — who has led the campaign of allegations against the Jang and Geo Group, accusing the group of being involved in election rigging and winning favours from Nawaz Sharif — but Mani said he was astonished that such allegations were being made knowingly by some whose aim was to malign rather than to do anything good.

But the stern rebuttal by Ehsan Mani will come as a shock to Imran Khan who faces court cases from Jang and Geo over these allegations.

Ehsan Mani clarified: “The committee that I headed comprised Justice Shabbar Rizvi, an ex-Lahore High Court judge, Ahmed Hussain and a lawyer. It had three PCB management members Subhan Ahmed, COO, Badar Khan, CFO, and Salman Naseer, PCB’s internal legal adviser. It has had an ex-PCB Board member Bughio, a close aide of Zaka Ashraf.

“It was on my request that renowned accounting firmErnst & Young was taken on board to oversee all the process and to ensure that the whole bidding process was independent and transparent. The aim was to ensure transparency so that no bidder should be given undue advantage. Ernst and Young made the final report with recommendations and sent it to the PCB.”

Ehsan Mani said that the highest bidders were Ten Sports and Geo and they were recommended on the basis of the merit of their bids, the highest amounts they put down to win these rights. “Najam Sethi wasn’t involved at any stage. He had nothing to do with the bidding at any of the stages. There was only one PCB representative Bughio who sat in the meeting as an observer. Najam Sethi didn’t have any influence at any stage. There was no pressure, corruption or manipulation. Everything was independent and the bid was open, negotiations were opened and on board. Everything was on record and minutes were taken down.”

After the bids were received, Mani said, the committee only recommended to the PCB board that the South African series shall go to Ten Sports and the rights for Sri Lanka shall go to Geo Super. “We had no power other than to make recommendations. The PCB governing body finalised the decision. There was no interference at all at any level, there’s no question of any pressure. It was not possible. The highest bidder won and it’s simple. The terms and conditions were provided in writing in advance to all the parties involved.”

Ehsan Mani refused to disclose how much money was offered by Geo Super and Ten Sports because it was “confidential” but he stressed that the rights were won by the highest and the most competitive bidders. “There is no doubt about that. This is all on the record. Ernst & Young witnessed the negotiations and recorded everything. Their report was confidential and private which we didn’t see. Everyone involved was satisfied with the procedures and no objections were raised.”

When asked if the chairman PCB could manipulate at any stage using his powers, Ehsan Mani said that the process of establishing committees was such that the chairman couldn’t do anything. “The PCB chairman cannot manipulate. When I was approached to be a part of this committee, I said I will help.”

Mani said that he has been helping the Pakistan cricket since 1992 and had been involved in many deals and at various stages. “My only condition was that this committee will be independent and the PCB chairman will not be involved. The committee was completely independent and any involvement from any quarter was out of the question. I had done the ICC deal for $500 million in 2000. In 2006 and 2007, I was asked again by the ICC to help with their rights and one of the deals was done for $1.1 billion. When my reputation is so high and I am trusted so much, then why would I do anything untoward?”

When asked again if Najam Sethi had anything to do with the bidding process, Ehsan Mani said that Najam Sethi had no involvement. “Najam Sethi had absolutely no involvement. He couldn’t have done that. We followed a transparent procedure. No bidder knew who was offering what amount. No one knew what was on board. We wanted maximum money. We wanted maximum money for the PCB and that was our aim. Those who failed our targets failed to get the rights. All bidders were there and they knew what was going on.”

Ehsan Mani’s interview has proved the allegation leveled by Imran Khan, Mubashir Luqman and several TV channels as a complete lie. Several channels, particularly ARY, were alleging that Sethi favoured Geo in getting the cricket rights. Imran Khan leveled this allegation in his several TV interviews. He particularly attended Mubashir Luqman’s programme at ARY and repeatedly leveled this baseless allegation.

The Jang Group’s response to this allegation was present at its website, parts of social media and even published several times in newspapers, but no anchorperson ever asked any question from Imran Khan about the role and stand of Ehsan Mani, who is the chairman of the audit committee of Shaukat Khanum Hospital.

As Imran’s allegation has been proven a lie, the lawyers community in the UK is discussing what would be the worth of Imran’s other allegations against the Geo and Jang Group. They think Imran, who enjoys respect in the UK, will face embarrassment on failure to prove his charges against the Geo/Jang Group in the UK courts.

CJP has nothing to do with elections: Former CJP

ISLAMABAD: Former Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said on Tuesday that country’s top judge had nothing to do with the elections.

The former CJP said it was the responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan to appoint Returning Officers (ROs) adding that he did not want to respond to useless allegations being made.

Justice (retd) Chaudhry emphasised the importance of the judiciary and defence institutions saying talks of a clash between them should not be taking place. The former CJP further said that a strong foundation for democracy had been laid in the country and there was no threat to it.

Wickedleak Wammy Passion X quick-read review: Just waterproofing won’t do

 

Wammy Passion X with Octa core costs Rs 17,990+

The new Samsung Galaxy S5 is waterproof, but you don’t have to spend over Rs 50,000 if you want that feature. Indian mobile maker Wickedleak has a new smartphone that survives water damage and costs just Rs 18,000. But that price comes at the cost of many sacrifices…

Quick Tech Specs: 5-inch IPS touchscreen with DragonTrail scratch-resistant glass (1920×1080 px) | 1.7GHz octa-core Mediatek MT6592 processor | 2GB RAM | 16GB internal memory, microSD up to 64GB | 13MP rear camera, 1080p FullHD video recording | 5MP front camera, 720p HD video recording | Dual-SIM (GSM + GSM) | 3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4 | GPS with A-GPS | 2500mAH battery | Android 4.2 Jelly Bean

Price: Rs 17,990 excluding taxes

Design & Build: The Wammy Passion X looks exactly like its predecessor, the Wammy Passion Z or Z+. I’m a fan of the design, which is rectangular with slight curves at the top and bottom—reminiscent of how the Sony Xperia Ray. Plus, the Passion X is extremely light for the hardware it packs, including that big battery.

However, for all its looks, it feels cheap. And a closer inspection of the design betrays why it is priced low. The back panel, for instance, does not seal tightly and you can see gaps. The plastic material is of a low quality and recesses when you press on any of the sides. It uses capacitive touch buttons, making full use of its bezel, which is always good—but in this case, there is no backlight for those buttons. So if you are using the phone after switching off the lights, you can’t see the buttons and will often press the wrong one. It’s a frustrating experience.

Finally, the AquaProtect waterproof nanocoating does not do it any favours as it looks like some sticky goo fell on the back of your phone. With usage, the protection starts peeling so the edges don’t feel refined either.

  

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Of course, this water protection is what the Passion X is all about. And Wickedleak has treated every aspect, including the motherboard, so that it doesn’t need to seal the ports shut, like Samsung and Sony phones. This is more like the Moto G, which features a similar nanocoating. We mimicked real-world scenarios to test the waterproofing, like using it in a shower to simulate rain, spilling cold water and hot coffee on it, and even dunking it in a shallow pool of water for some time. The Wammy Passion X will hold up under the usual water-based mishaps that are bound to hit your phone. However, don’t expect it to be a functional device for snorkelling—the idea here is to protect from water damage, it’s not a rugged phone for adventure sports and the like.

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Screen: The Wammy Passion X has a stunning screen that is bound to draw favour from anyone who looks at it. It has wide viewing angles, accurate colour reproduction, and it displays sharp images. The addition of scratch-resistant Dragontrail glass is welcome because you don’t have to put on a screen guard, although that’s packaged in the box.

Performance: For most purposes, the Wammy Passion X runs as good as any other Android we have seen. Even high-end games played well for the most part, but switching them to high quality did cause frames to drop when we were multi-tasking. Still, at this price, the Wammy Passion X is as good as or better than any of its competitors.

Memory: The 16GB of built-in memory is a nice touch, since Android forces you to download apps and games to your internal storage now. Plus, you can always expand it via microSD.

Connectivity: While you will get network in most places, the Passion X has weak audio. In a crowded or noisy environment, it’s difficult to hear the person on the other line unless they start yelling—and even that’s not enough sometimes.

Software: This, for me, is the biggest problem with the Passion X. The colloquialism of “Chinese maal” was never more true. Out of the box, the phone looks like stock Android and has no issues. But reset it once and it defaults to a new interface with the Chinese language enabled. Even if you change the language, other parts like the icons and the theme no longer look like Android. This isn’t friendly for those who like to tinker around with their phone, which is something I liked about the Passion Z+. If you think you’ll ever need to reset your phone—and chances are, you might have to—you will need to get help from Wickedleak service, it’s not as simple as any other Android phone.

Camera: The camera of the Wammy Passion X is not worth the price it demands. Competitors like Micromax and Xolo offer much better snappers at this price. The Passion X is fine when you are clicking photos outdoors in the day, but as light gets dimmer, the noise levels go up disproportionately. Taking photographs at night, even with the LED flash on, is not a good experience. And during both day and night, the images appear dull and the colours look faded. Finally, video clips are not the Passion X’s stronghold, and there is more camera shake than we have experienced with other smartphones. It’s a disappointing rear camera. And while the 5MP sensor on the front cam is welcome, the photos you click are still grainy and dark.

 

Battery: The Wammy Passion X lasts for around 15 hours of average usage and 6 hours of video playback—that’s good enough for most people.

Special Mentions: The Passion X is the phone to avoid if you like your music. First, there are no headphones in the box. And we tried three different headphones, as well as a Bluetooth one. The

Passion X has poor audio quality, with the bass sounding flat and there not even being adequate volume to pump it up. If you care about your music, don’t even consider this phone. The Atom Supremus is still the phone to beat in that aspect.

  

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Verdict: I have been trying to figure out why I dislike the Passion X and it comes down to this: it feels like an incomplete phone. While you get waterproofing, the build quality isn’t great. Over usage, the edges become rougher and Aquaprotect isn’t pretty to look at on the back panel. The fact that it resets to a different UI is annoying. The lack of backlight on the capacitive touch buttons is frustrating. And there are no earphones packed in the box.

The phone has some good points, like that fantastic screen, the good performance and the water protection. But it doesn’t come together to feel like a great device. Maybe if it was priced closer to Rs. 12,000, this would be a decent purchase, but as it currently stands, the Passion X is not worth your money. Even if waterproofing is something you really want, the Moto G is a better bet at a lower price, and it even survived a 30-minute underwater test.

Kareena Kapoor: I do not regret rejecting ‘Queen, Ram-Leela’

Actress Kareena Kapoor doesn't feel disheartened about her projects getting delayed or things not working out the way she wants them to, and has indeed started taking them in her stride.

Two of Kareena's most talked-about films, Karan Johar's home production 'Shuddhi' and 'Bombay Samurai' opposite Farhan Akhtar are stuck for some reasons. In case of 'Shuddhi', the project derailed due to lead actor Hrithik Roshan's health issues, forcing Kareena to walk out of the venture.

'Bombay Samurai' got delayed apparently as the production house (Excel Entertainment) is busy with other project with Shah Rukh Khan.

The film was initially supposed to go on floors this month but now it will happen post September, contrary to reports that it is delayed to next year.

"I have left 'Shuddhi', I am not part of it anymore. I am not at all disheartened about it. It ('Bombay Samurai' getting delayed) gives me more time for myself and to holiday... I am married now I am not running a relay marathon now. I don't know why the press makes such a big deal about it," Kareena told in an exclusive interview here.

"After 'Singham 2', we will shoot for 'Bombay Samurai'. It (film) needs international crew so we will begin (to) work on it post September," she said, adding that shooting for 'Singham 2' will start from March 25.

When asked about her refusal to projects like 'Queen', 'Ram-Leela', 'Chennai Express', 'Fashion', 'Kal Ho Na Ho', 'Black' and others which subsequently went to other actresses, Kareena said she did not regret her decision.

"I feel honoured and glad to give work to other people. I hope they (actresses) become stars as I have rejected big films," she said.

When asked about her criteria for picking a film, Kareena said she wanted to be related to the project and big banner is secondary.

"I am looking for films that I want to be part of... something that excites me. I listen to about two stories a day but I am not going to say yes to anyone, no matter who it is. I don't think whether that person is big (filmmaker) or not. I will go by the script and that is more important for me and I have learnt that over the years," Kareena added.

I do not think ageless beauty exists: Sharon Stone

Sharon Stone says she feels happy to learn that she is still thought as an attractive person.

Hollywood star Sharon Stone says it is not possible for one to remain beautiful all their life as ageing is inevitable.
The 56-year-old actress feels happy to learn that she is still thought as an attractive person, reported Daily Mirror.
“I don’t think ageless beauty exists. I think it’s just a catch-phrase. And so, you know, I think that’s stupid. To be the best you can be, you know, we have to recognise that it’s an internal thing. Not just an external thing,” Stone said.
“You know, I think it’s a sense of ethics. It’s everything, you know. If you want to keep yourself together, it’s all things,” she added.

What do exes John Abraham, Bipasha Basu still have in common?

Once Bollywood's hottest couple, John Abraham and Bipashu Basu have a lot in common even after their break up.

Once Bollywood’s hottest couple, John Abraham and Bipashu Basu have a lot in common even after their break up.
John and Bipasha, who are both touted as the fittest actors in the tinsel town, are both fitness freaks.
While Bipasha Basu, who recently released a new fitness DVD, is always ready for more exercises, John Abraham too is relentles when it comes to burning the calories and keeping in shape.
Bipasha Basu tweeted “Starting my Sunday on a strong note!#Unleash followed by #fitandfabulousyou routine!Burrrrn !”
The actress also added, “Sunday is your day to enjoy n relax, yes!But take out an hour to workout too!Get fit n strong n look awesome!Enjoy!” She also added, “Motivate yourself on Sundays too to work out!Starting now with #Unleash and following it with…”
Meanwhile, Bipasha’s ex beau John Abraham posted a picture on Insstgram captioning it “Time for a new John Abraham !!! Fitness is religion!!!”John Abraham and Bipasha Basu started dating during the filming of ‘Jism’ in 2003 and ended their relationship in early 2011. While John Abraham is now married to Priya Runchal, according to reports, Bipasha will soon be engaged to boyfriend Harman Baweja post the release of his film ‘Dhishkiyaoon’.

Aamir Khan: I should take money for the work I do

Aamir Khan, on how he plans to celebrate the big day and the many controversies surrounding his television show Satyamev Jayate.

Aamir Khan, who turned 49 today, March 14, says he will spend the day with his family.

"I am happy to be turning 49. I have learnt a lot in life. It was an exciting journey. I am grateful for the love I have received. I am thankful to god, my fans. I hope to lead a healthy life.

"Kiran (Rao, wife) was the first one to wish me. It is family time today," he said.

Aamir says he was born on the day of Holi.

"My mother says the nurse had applied colour on my cheeks."

He added "Every year we celebrate Holi at Nassir Saab's (uncle) place with the entire family and it's a family affair."

Kushal Tandon: Gauhar Khan and I are doing what couples who are in love do

The Bigg Boss 7 love stories are surviving and going strong even outside the glass-walled house

While Tanishaa Mukherji and boyfriend Armaan Kohli are busy painting the town red with their public display of affection, how could competing couple from Bigg Boss house Kushal Tandon and Gauhar Khan be far behind. Armaan-Tanishaa are ready to get hitched, while Kushal-Gauhar have been going steady even after the competition and had participated in another TV reality show Khatron Khiladi 5, the couple walked out after Ajaz Khan was roped in this show. And with Amraan declaring Tanishaa as ‘marriage material’, how could Mr Tandon be far behind. In a recent interview he said,

“We are going strong. We are exploring each other. I am happy, she is happy. We lead normal lives and are doing what couples who are in love do.”

Looks like the love birds wanna take time before they take it forward like  Armaan and Tanishaa. In fact, we’re sure with competing couple taking the centre stage at events and dos, Kushal and Gauhar‘s love story almost seems pheeka at least right now. And we wonder if KT’s statement was just to make clear that the fizz is their is still very much there.