Dhaka Gladiators, one of the prime accused in the ongoing match-fixing scandal, have broken its silence saying that it will accept punishment if it is proven guilty of
match-fixing that has rocked the country’s cricketing.
Gladiators also admitted that its chairman Salim Chowdhury, who according to media reports instigated the ban on former national captain Mohammad Ashraful for match-fixing, was yet to be interrogated by the Anti Corruption and Security Unit of the International Cricket Committee.
‘It is reported in a newspaper today that Dhaka Gladiators chairman Salim Chowdhury attended hearing with the ACSU in Bangkok but it is not true,’ Gladiators said in a statement on Wednesday.
‘Salim Chowdhury was on a business trip when the ACSU team visited Dhaka in the past week. When he failed to attend the meeting, the managing director of the franchise, Shiahb Chowdhury, met the ACSU team for a hearing.
‘The Dhaka Gladiators chairman contacted the ICC by himself after learning that he was being looked for,’ the statement said.
Gladiators also brushed aside the media report that said that a person by the name of Ali Akbar, who is the CEO of the Europa Group, had also been interrogated by the ACSU team.
‘Please note that there is no employee in Europa named Ali Akbar and the ACSU has never questioned any of the employees of Europa,’ the statement said.
‘It was only the managing director of the team, Shihab Chowdhury, who was called up for hearing by the ACSU team. No comments can, however, be made at this point as the issue is still under investigation,’ he said.
Gladiators also criticised some former cricketers and administrators for making remarks against the side in television talk shows.
‘A day ago, former national team and Dhaka Gladiators manager Shafique-ul Huque Heera told a television channel that ‘he left Dhaka Gladiators after the season because he felt that the owners are involved in wrongdoings of the game”,’ the statement said.
‘But in fact it was Dhaka Gladiators’ decision not to hire him for the second season for professional reasons. There were many occasion when Heera contacted the franchise through e-mail and over telephone before the second season to try to retain his post in the team.
‘On the other hand, in the same talk show, former Bangladesh Cricket Board director engineer Mobassher Hossain said that the board should have sold the BPL teams to those who have a background in sports.
‘This is to clarify that Dhaka Gladiators chairman Salim Chowdhury is a former basketball player of Khulna Abahani Limited and is a lifetime member of the club.
‘He is also the current vice-president of the Bangladesh Basketball Federation and has been involved with the game for the past 10 years.
‘Dhaka Gladiators owners will accept punishment if proved guilty. But it then requests all to not publish information without verification as has been done which is tarnishing the image of the franchisee owner,’ it said.
-With New Age input
