----------------------------------------------
NRI neurosurgeon has been re-indicted by a US grand jury
Washington, Sep 29: A Indian American neurosurgeon has been re-indicted by a US grand jury on new charges that he failed to declare an HSBC bank account in India valued in 2009 at $8.7 million.
Arvind Ahuja was indicted again Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he was initially charged June 28 with wilfully filing materially false tax returns and four counts of failing to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.
The court has added the charges of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Dan Webb of Winston and Strawn, Chicago, the attorney representing Ahuja, said the government's allegations are "far off-base," and he will continue to present a vigorous, fact-based defence.
"Dr. Ahuja is innocent of these allegations, and we remain confident that a jury will acquit him of all charges, including the charges announced today," Webb said.
According to the superseding indictment, Ahuja wire transferred and maintained millions of dollars in bank accounts in India and the Bailiwick of Jersey at The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd. (HSBC).
In 2009, the HSBC bank account in India had a balance of $8.7 million. The superseding indictment alleges that Ahuja failed to report these bank accounts to the IRS on his 2006-2009 tax returns.
The indictment further alleges that Ahuja failed to report more than $1.2 million in interest income that he earned from his HSBC India account and failed to pay the taxes due on that income.
The new indictment also alleges Ahuja conspired with HSBC bankers who worked at an HSBC India office in New York to conceal from the IRS the existence, ownership and income derived from his undeclared bank accounts at HSBC India and HSBC Jersey.
Ahuja faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the conspiracy charge and a $250,000 fine. Each false tax return charge carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The failure to report his foreign bank account charges each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
Chandy to help end expatriates' passport woes
Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 28; Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Wednesday assured the assembly that he would take up with the central government passport-related problems faced by expatriates at state airports.
Indian Union Muslim League legislator M. Ali drew the attention of the house to new passport rules that were allegedly leading to harassment of expatriate Keralites.
"When people employed in the Middle East come for vacation, their passports are impounded at three airports in the state over minor errors regarding their names and address," he said.
"Once that is done, they are asked to apply for a fresh passport and when the new passport is issued, the authorities fail to give the old passport in which their employment visa is stamped," said Ali.
According to complaints, there were more than 1,000 people who were suffering in this manner.
"This issue was not there till around seven months back and it began with a new top official taking over in Delhi in the passport section, the rule of not returning the old passport or taking out the visa stamped page and affixing it to the new passport is also not taking place," said Chandy.
"I will immediately take this issue with the external affairs ministry and the ministry of overseas Indian affairs," said Chandy.
Kairali TV to expand into Middle East
Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 29: Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-backed Kairali TV Thursday said it will launch a new channel in the Middle East.
The channel's chairman, superstar Mammootty, made the announcement soon after being re-elected to the post at the firm's annual general body meeting held here.
The channel has been named Kairali Arabia.
Kairali TV's income in the last fiscal stood at Rs.67.82 crore, with a profit of Rs.14.60 crore.
Mammootty added that a five percent dividend will be paid to all shareholders in December this year.
Amitabh's prank rings wrong bells in Punjab
Chandigarh, Sep 21 : Their mobile phones are ringing thanks to "Kaun Banega Crorepati" (KBC), but the calls have nothing to do with millions of rupees. A prank by Bollywood superstar and show host Amitabh Bachchan has ushered in a nightmarish time for the users of 10 mobile phone numbers in Punjab.
In a recent episode, Bachchan had randomly given out a mobile number when a participant at the show pestered him for his contact.
"No sooner was the show aired on Sony TV channel than all hell broke loose for me. I have received thousands of calls in the last few days. People are calling 24 x 7 - from northeast India to Gujarat, Kashmir to Kanyakumari," wedding planner Karan Wahi, one of those 'seriously' affected by Amitabh's prank, told IANS here.
Amitabh, popularly referred to as Big B, had given out nine digits of a mobile number (987730000) during the show, leaving viewers to guess the last one. Eager Amitabh fans did not take long to dial all digits - from 0 to 9 - in that mobile series.
Since the series belongs to mobile operators in Punjab, the mobile users with these numbers became sitting ducks for the fans who started calling.
Sony, the TV channel which airs the show, remained unavailable for comment.
Wahi, who owns two of these mobile numbers - ending with 1 and 5 - in this series, says his nightmare is unending.
Puneet Bansal, a businessman from Punjab's industrial town of Mandi Gobindgarh, 60 km from here, is another victim of Big B's prank. Jalandhar resident Inder Preet, who has two numbers in the series, is at the receiving end of constant harassment due to unwarranted calls.
Bansal is moving a court in the matter and has already slapped a legal notice on Sony TV and Amitabh.
"People are calling from Australia, Canada, the USA, London and everywhere else. I have not received so many calls in one year as I have received in the last three-four days," an exasperated Wahi said.
Harassed by the constant calls and streams of SMSs, Wahi has slapped a legal notice on Amitabh and Sony TV.
"I am at my wits' end. I feel like committing suicide. I will seek a compensation of at least Rs.50 lakh from the TV channel and the host for this harassment and constant mental agony," Wahi said.
"People want me to connect to Amitabh Bachchan and don't listen to my arguments. From knowing about his health to when he is becoming a grandfather, they ask everything 24 hours.
"They even want to talk to Aishwarya (Amitabh's daughter-in-law and actress) and son Abhishek. Initially, we enjoyed the calls but soon got fed up with these. Even giving choicest Punjabi abuses has failed to ward off people," Wahi said.
His business is suffering due to hundreds of these calls, Wahi added.
The affected people have now either switched off their numbers or have started diverting the calls.
"My roaming bill has gone up by Rs.10,000 in just the last few days. What is the use of buying VIP numbers if a small joke can create so much chaos?" another affected 'victim', not wishing to be identified, told IANS.
-------------------------------------------------------
HCL Technologies in Washington to create 400 jobs
New Delhi, Sep 22: HCL Technologies Thursday said it has opened a global delivery centre in Redmond, Washington, where its initial investment of $4 million will create over 400 jobs in the Seattle area over the next two years.
"The new centre will support the company's continued global expansion and increased focus on business innovation in software product development, test engineering and business critical platform development," it said in a statement.
HCL has also announced Microsoft as its first official enterprise customer. Microsoft director Brad Weed pledged $200,000 from the workforce investment act fund to HCL to assist with the training of future employees from Seattle area.
The collaborative engineering hub will have a seating capacity of 350 people and will provide both engineering and product development services in the areas of internationalization and mobility.
HCL is working closely with the Washington State Department of Commerce and enterpriseSeattle, the provider of economic development services, to better engage the professionals and businesses from the Seattle area.
Additionally, HCL will work with several local universities to recruit young graduates, including the University of Washington, University of Washington-Bothell Campus, University of Washington-Tacoma, Seattle University, and Seattle Pacific University.
At the Bombay Stock Exchange, the shares of the company were 3.51 percent lower to trade at Rs.391.30.
The prince and the showgirl - a love story ends
New Delhi, Sep 22: Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi's death Thursday brought to an end an enduring romance. When Sharmila Tagore tied the knot with the erstwhile royal 42 years ago, it was not only a marriage of cricket and cinema, but also one that broke many stereotypes.
He was a Nawab from a well-known Muslim family and she was a Hindu who belonged to the illustrious Tagore family. As she was to admit many times in later years, Pataudi, popularly known as Tiger, proved to be an exceptionally liberal companion.
Be it her wearing a bikini in "An Evening In Paris" in 1967, when they were courting, or taking up glamorous roles after marriage in 1969 and later motherhood - he always stood by her, always the ideal partner.
She once said in an interview, "I haven't given up anything (after marrying Tiger). He is very liberal in his views. I've gained a lot of experience and gained another culture, cuisine, and way of dressing. I've benefited a lot."
Their marriage was not expected to last - she converted, becoming Ayesha Sultana - but they proved naysayers wrong.
She once told a reporter, "If Tiger and I make attempts to promote harmony, I do not know how far we will succeed. People will say that I am not a Muslim and that Tiger is a Hindu fanatic."
The couple had three children - Saif, Saba and Soha - but Tiger never stopped her from carrying on in showbiz. In fact, she gave most of her hits after marriage and motherhood.
Many years down the line, when he was arrested for poaching, the actress stood by her husband like a rock.
Death may have snatched away the man from the woman, but like an advertisement they did together, in popular imagination - Pataudi and Sharmila will live on together.
Tiger was a prince among cricketers (Tribute)
Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi was the most admired India cricket captain. He led the country in 40 of his 46 Tests he played and most players who played with him insist that he was easily the greatest captain ever. He was a prince among cricketers.
Popularly known as Tiger, Pataudi was the first captain to make players of his generation feel they were no inferior to anyone in the world cricket. His teammates, who were divided and identified on regional lines, were made to realise that they were representing their country and not their linguistic states. He made them speak only in Hindustani, if not English. He drilled into their minds that they could beat any team if they played for each other and that bonding did wonders for Indian cricket. Under his captaincy the first Test victory overseas was achieved in New Zealand in 1967-68.
Captaincy was thrust on him at a tender age of 21 in difficult circumstances when captain Nari Contractor was felled by lethal bouncer on the 1961-62 tour of West Indies. He himself was recovering and getting adjusted to a vision impairment in his right eye after a car accident in England.
He was the first captain to seriously believe that India could take the world on with its mesmerising spinners when you don't have real fast bowlers. For the next decade or so, Indian went into Tests with three spinners and it worked wonderfully well. Bishan Bedi and Erapalli Prasanna are never tired of narrating how well they felt bowling under his captaincy.
A dashing batsman, he made a virtue of hitting even express fast bowlers over the infield. He was a brilliant fielder to boot. He gave a terrific chase if he thought he could retrieve the ball and never bothered to waste energy by escorting a ball to the boundary. All this with one perfect eye and a partial vision in the other. If only he had complete sight he could have been a greater cricketer.
He made his Test debut in 1961 soon after his car mishap and that did not prevent him from scoring a century in his first Test against Australia to emulate his father Nawab Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi playing for England. The senior Pataudi captained India on their tour of England in 1946, barely 16 years before his son got into the hot seat.
He made his Ranji Trophy debut for Delhi, but soon realised he had got into a snake pit and soon shifted to Hyderabad, where he was more at home playing in the company of and under the captaincy of M.L. Jaisimha, one of the greatest strategists never to have lead India, fellow-Oxonian Abbas Ali Baig and Syed Abis Ali, who were all his India teammates. He also captained Oxford and English county Sussex.
After his playing days were over, he briefly dabbled in politics, contesting 1971 election to the Lok Sabha, more to protest against the abolition of privy purses. He was also Indian team's cricket manager in 1974-75 and acted as an International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee. He was also on the general council of the Indian Premier League (IPL), but he clearly did not relish these jobs.
He could have easily been a great commentator with his insight, but could not carry on for long. He always spoke his mind out and never minced words when it came to the interest of Indian cricket. He did enough to make his presence felt both on and off the cricket field
Can't arrest man who 'duped' NRI woman, say police
Ghaziabad, Sep 17, 2011: Ghaziabad police Saturday said it could not arrest a businessman accused by an NRI woman of abandoning her after marriage as he had already moved court to surrender.
"When a culprit applies to surrender before the court, the police can't arrest him," said Circle Officer (CO) R.K. Singh said.
However, legal experts were not convinced by the explanation.
"The police seems to be in collusion with the culprit. The CO's statement is hard to believe... We have witnessed cases when the police have arrested culprits from outside the court," advocate Khalid Khan said.
The case came to light Friday, when the 22-year-old woman from Muscat accused Pulkit Bharti, 23, the owner of a professional studies college here, of enticing her over the internet.
After she came to India, Pulkit gave her a job in the college, and married her Aug 16.
He then kept her in a hotel for 20 days.
On Sep 9, when she insisted on visiting his house, Pulkit - son of a steel trader - told her to wait at the hotel while he went out to convince his parents to accept her as his wife. However, he never returned.
The police earlier said they have registered a criminal case against the culprit under stringent sections of the Indian Penal Code - for rape and demanding dowry.
No complaints from Indian workers in Afghanistan: Government
New Delhi, Sep 15, 2011: Dismissing reports that nearly 4,000 Indians working in Afghanistan were being mistreated by their American employees, the Indian government Thursday said it had not received even a single complaint in this regard.
It also refuted the figures on the number of Indians working in Afghanistan in the field of Information Technology and in US military camps, putting it at close to 3,000.
"I have checked on that. The figures are a bit wrong. As far as we know, in all, about close to 3,000 Indians are working of their free will and volition in Afghanistan.
"As far as the missions and consulates are concerned, we have not received a single complaint of mistreatment or any problem. You have to note that they have gone there on their free will and they can go there, work there and come back as they want," a government official, who preferred anonymity, said here to a query on the reports from Kerala that the state had sought the centre's intervention in the matter.
"I do appreciate that Afghanistan is a friendly country and Indian embassy and four consulates are in close touch with Indian people, who are in Afghanistan. Some of them are working in IT companies, some of them are working in military camps and so on. We have taken note of this report and therefore, today, again, we checked and there is nothing that has come to our notice to substantiate the report that has appeared today," the sources said.
Reports had suggested that Kerala government had sought the centre's help for nearly 4,000 Indians -- a majority of whom are from the state -- reportedly working in "miserable" conditions in American military camps in Afghanistan. The report had quoted television channels that spoke to the Indian workers in military camps in Afghanistan over the phone.
Kerala's Minister for Non-Resident Keralites Affairs K.C. Joseph said the government viewed the matter seriously and wanted the central government's intervention to save the Indians.
"Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will be writing to external affairs minister and non-resident Indians affairs minister to ascertain the details and intervene in the matter," Joseph was quoted as saying.
India, UAE sign manpower agreement
New Delhi, Sep 13, 2011: India and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on manpower which will facilitate Indians workers who are headed to the Gulf country.
It is estimated there are around 17.5 lakh (1.7 million) Indians in the UAE, constituting the largest expatriate community in that country. Out of this, about 13.5 lakh (1.3 million) are migrant workers, mostly employed in construction, services and household sectors.
Union Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi signed the MoU with Saqr Ghobash Saeed Ghobash, Minister of Labour of UAE.
According to a ministry statement, Ravi said the revised MoU will boost the Web Based Attestation Procedure for employment contracts for emigrant workers in UAE by the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi.
The revised MoU deals with issues like facilitation of recruitment of Indian manpower for working in the UAE, responsibilities of the employers and workers, generation of employment opportunity, and protection of workers under the labour laws of the host country.
The initial MoU was signed between India and the UAE in December 2006 to address the problems faced by the Indian emigrant workers in the UAE.
India-UAE trade, valued at $180 million per annum in the 1970s, today stands at around $44 billion, making UAE India's largest trading partner. There is an estimated $6 billion UAE investment in India, of which about $1.92 billion is in the form of foreign direct investment (FDI), while the remaining is portfolio investment.
UAE is the tenth biggest investor in India in terms of FDI. The annual remittances made by the large Indian community in UAE amount to over $5 billion. They had actively invested in the past in the various bonds floated by India such as Resurgent India Bonds and the India Millennium Bonds.
--------------------------------
---------------------------------------
Israel's focus on IT, biotech in trade with India
Kolkata, Sep 13, 2011: Israel will focus on Information Technology (IT) and biotechnology to change the composition of its trade with India, Israeli Ambassador Alon Ushpiz said Tuesday.
"Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India is under discussion. To change the composition of trade with India, we will focus on IT and biotechnology. The volume of trade will be larger and larger in the future," Ushpiz said at an interactive session, organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) here.
Currently the volume of bilateral trade between the two countries stood at $5 billion. It is estimated that bilateral trade would exceed $12 billion in five years after the trade agreement.
Noting research was going on at Indo-Israel Centre of Excellence for Vegetables in Karnal (Haryana), he said: "We can extend cooperation to West Bengal also".
Earlier in the day, Ushpiz held talks with West Bengal Director General of Police N. Mukherjee.
Asked on the nature of talks and if they dealt with the state's security, Ushpiz only said: "We have very close relation with India, both centre and states. Indian citizens' well-being is important to Israel also."
|
Oct. 03
