[🇧🇩] Everything about Hasina's misrule/Laundered Money etc.

[Saif]

S Alam threatens int’l legal action against govt: FT

S Alam Group owner Mohammed Saiful Alam has initiated a legal effort as a Singaporean citizen to recover financial losses he claims were caused by the Bangladeshi government freezing his assets and harming his investments, The Financial Times reports.

www.thedailystar.net

S Alam threatens int’l legal action against govt: FT

Collected photo

S Alam Group owner Mohammed Saiful Alam has initiated a legal effort as a Singaporean citizen to recover financial losses he claims were caused by the Bangladeshi government freezing his assets and harming his investments, The Financial Times reports.

The dispute stems from actions taken by the interim government following the ousting of prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Alam says his family's bank accounts were frozen, they were subjected to travel bans, and they lost control of their companies, all while facing investigations for alleged money laundering without formal notification.

S Alam has sent a "notice of dispute" to Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus and key advisers, warning that if the matter is unresolved within six months, he will pursue international arbitration under a 2004 bilateral investment treaty between Bangladesh and Singapore.

The December 18 notice states that the family obtained permanent residence in Singapore in 2011 and citizenship between 2021 and 2023. It adds that they all renounced their Bangladeshi nationality in 2020.

The notice was sent by lawyers of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, an American law firm, according to the FT report.

It states that banks owned by S Alam have been restricted from lending and had their management teams changed, while deals they had in place have been cancelled by the government "arbitrarily and without due process".

"The value of the investors' investments has been destroyed, in whole or in part, through the acts and omissions of Bangladesh, its agencies and instrumentalities," the Quinn Emanuel notice states.

"Those acts and omissions, which are ongoing, have violated and continue to violate the investors' rights under [investment treaties] and the laws of Bangladesh, and give rise to the present dispute."

The Bangladesh government did not respond to a request for comments on the letter.

Ahsan H Mansur, who was appointed Bangladesh's central bank governor following the toppling of Hasina's regime in August, told the FT in October that Saiful Alam, his associates, and other groups had siphoned money out of the banking system after taking over leading banks with the help of members of a powerful military intelligence agency.

Mansur, a former IMF official, alleged that they used methods such as loans to the banks' new shareholders and inflated import invoices as part of what he called the "biggest, highest robbing of banks by any international standards".

S Alam Group, which has interests in sectors including food, construction, garments, and banking, has said there is "no truth" to Mansur's allegations.

A spokesperson for Bangladesh's central bank said, "The issues are under investigation and the central bank has refrained from any comment for the betterment of the investigation outcomes."

Alam's letter is an early indicator of the hurdles Bangladesh's interim government faces in its attempts to reclaim money it says was taken out of the banking system under the regime of Hasina.​

 

[Saif]

A guide to smuggling dreams and national nightmares

Few heists match the sheer audacity of the Awami League’s 15-year saga of economic escapades.

www.thedailystar.net

A guide to smuggling dreams and national nightmares

VISUAL: SALMAN SAKIB SHAHRYAR

In the vast tapestry of human creativity, few heists match the sheer audacity of the Awami League's 15-year saga of economic escapades. It's as though the government took cues from Ocean's Eleven, but instead of Danny Ocean and his suave crew, we had a merry band of bureaucrats, politicians and their cronies, all playing fast and loose with public funds. The white paper report on $234 billion (approximately Tk 28 lakh crore) in smuggled money isn't just a document; it's the script of a dystopian drama where "the tumour" of corruption metastasised across the economy, creating villains more cunning than Moriarty and institutions more fragile than Humpty Dumpty.

Jerry Maguire's famous line seems to have been taken as gospel by corrupt leaders and business moguls, who perfected the art of money laundering during the Awami League's tenure. According to the white paper, an average of Tk 1.8 lakh crore was smuggled abroad annually—enough to buy private islands, fund covert lunar missions or, more realistically, snap up overpriced condos in Dubai. Bangladeshis now own 532 properties in Dubai, worth a cool $375 million, which makes one wonder: is Bangladesh exporting labour or landlords?

Meanwhile, the Malaysia My Second Home programme welcomed more than 3,600 Bangladeshis, proving that while the poor migrate for better opportunities, the rich migrate for better villas. These transactions read like chapters from The Great Gatsby, where extravagance and deceit coexist in splendid harmony. But unlike Jay Gatsby's mysterious fortune, this loot comes with a paper trail—albeit one guarded by layers of bureaucratic misdirection.

Banks have been called the lifeblood of economies, but during this regime, they morphed into black holes, swallowing Tk 6.75 lakh crore in distressed loans. That's enough to build more than 13 metro rails or 22 Padma Bridges—or, in the true satirical spirit, one really long bridge to nowhere. Like Littlefinger from the Game of Thrones, the regime's players used banks not to build but to destabilise, enriching themselves while the kingdom crumbled.

These "distressed loans" weren't just numbers; they were lifelines for a select few oligarchs. Loans were disbursed with the generosity of Santa Claus, except the gifts were misappropriated funds, and the recipients were neither naughty nor nice—just connected.

Remember The Truman Show, where everything was a perfectly crafted illusion? That's precisely how the previous regime approached development projects. Roads, bridges, and hospitals became vanity projects, bloated with unnecessary costs and laced with bribes. It's almost poetic how money flowed like champagne at Gatsby's parties—except it wasn't enjoyed by the citizens who footed the bill.

Even the Annual Development Programme (ADP) was a masterpiece of creative accounting. Tk 7.2 lakh crore was spent over 15 years, with Tk 1.61 lakh crore to 2.8 lakh crore of it just wasted and looted. This wasn't development, it was performance art, a Kafkaesque nightmare where bridges connected not cities but offshore accounts.

If the banking sector was a black hole, the stock market was its rowdy cousin. Tk 1 lakh crore was embezzled through IPO fraud and placement scams, orchestrated by a shadowy cabal of politicians, bureaucrats, and "entrepreneurial" visionaries. These schemes rivalled Jordan Belfort's exploits in The Wolf of Wall Street.

This isn't just fraud—it's artistry. It takes a genius to convince an entire nation that the stock market is a viable investment while you quietly pocket the proceeds.

In 1984, George Orwell described a world where truth was malleable, and facts were twisted to serve the ruling party. The Awami League apparently took this as a blueprint, manipulating GDP and inflation statistics to paint a rosy picture. The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) became the Ministry of Truth, churning out data that would make even Big Brother blush.

Meanwhile, corruption flourished unchecked. Bribes were no longer local transactions but global ventures. Funds once used to fuel the shadow economy at home were now smuggled abroad, funding lifestyles more lavish than Crazy Rich Asians. The report calls this phenomenon a "malignant tumour," but perhaps it's more akin to Voldemort—an ever-present, parasitic force sucking the life out of the nation.

If Charles Dickens were alive today, he might rewrite A Tale of Two Cities as A Tale of Two Classes: one that tightened its belt and another that loosened its purse strings abroad. The white paper reveals how capitalism birthed oligarchs who manipulated policy, entrenched corruption, and hoarded wealth overseas.

Imagine Walter White in Breaking Bad, but instead of cooking meth, he's cooking up development budgets. The white paper reveals how inflated project costs were systematically looted, with money laundered through shell companies and overseas investments. Every construction project became a criminal enterprise, and every politician a Gustavo Fring, a respectable façade hiding a sinister core.

As we sift through this economic rubble, the interim government faces a Herculean task: restoring integrity to institutions gutted by corruption. But let's not kid ourselves. There will be no sweeping reforms overnight. Instead, we're in for a gritty reboot, where every move is calculated, and every step forward is hard-earned.

The white paper ends with a plea for political will, but one must wonder: is will alone enough to undo 15-plus years of systemic plunder? Perhaps the answer lies not in politics but in public vigilance. For now, though, the Tk 28 lakh crore smuggled remains a testament to a regime that prioritised greed over governance, corruption over competence, and illusion over integrity.

Like all great tragedies, this saga offers a glimmer of hope. The exposure of these crimes marks a turning point—a chance for redemption. But the road ahead is long, winding, and riddled with potholes, many of which were paid for with our stolen money.

So here's to the future—a cleaner, fairer, and more transparent Bangladesh. And to the past? Well, that's best left as a cautionary tale. Let's just hope the next generation writes a different story, one where the villains are vanquished, and the heroes don't need offshore accounts.

H.M. Nazmul Alam is lecturer at the Department of English and Modern Languages of the International University of Business, Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT).​

 

[Saif]

Tulip Siddiq interrogated in United Kingdom over corruption claims in Bangladesh

Tulip Siddiq, a United Kingdom labour minister and niece of Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, has been questioned over claims she and her family members embezzled £4b (around Tk 60,000 crore) from a power plant project in Bangladesh..

www.newagebd.net

Tulip Siddiq interrogated in United Kingdom over corruption claims in Bangladesh
United News of Bangladesh . Dhaka 23 December, 2024, 14:55

Tulip Siddiq. | UNB Photo

Tulip Siddiq, a United Kingdom labour minister and niece of Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, has been questioned over claims she and her family members embezzled £4b (around Tk 60,000 crore) from a power plant project in Bangladesh

The cabinet office propriety and ethics team questioned Tulip Siddiq on Sunday over the allegation, reports The Telegraph.

Tulip Siddiq is facing investigation over claims that she and four family members embezzled £4 billion through Roopur Nuke Power Plant Deal in Bangladesh.

British prime minister Keir Starmer has stood by Tulip, who denies the claims and said no authority has contacted her so far about the allegations.

Labour party officials described the claims as ‘spurious’ and made for political reasons by opponents of Hasina.

In October, National Crime Agency investigators visited Bangladesh to ‘support’ its anti-corruption probes.

A Tory MP has written to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner asking them to launch a probe into Tulip over the allegations.

The Anti-Corruption Commission in Bangladesh decided to start probe the embezzlement allegation against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana, son Sajeeb Wazed Joy and niece Tulip Siddiq recently following a High Court order.

Tulip Siddiq, 42, the Treasury’s economic secretary, is responsible for tackling corruption in UK financial markets.

The Mail on Sunday reported that five investigators are gathering ‘documentary evidence’ related to Tulip and others, and are expected to contact them within weeks for their responses.

The report stated that the ACC would send any correspondence to her through the British High Commission in Dhaka.

Citing anonymous officials, the paper noted that once responses are received, investigators will decide whether to file First Information Reports.​

 

[Saif]

Graft allegation: ACC to launch probe against Hasina's military adviser, 7 others

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has decided to launch an investigation against eight individuals, including former Prime Minister's military advisor Tariq Ahmed Siddiqi and senior secretary Mohibul Haque, over allegations of embezzlement in the name of airport development projects

www.thedailystar.net

Graft allegation: ACC to launch probe against Hasina's military adviser, 7 others

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has decided to launch an investigation against eight individuals, including former Prime Minister's military advisor Tariq Ahmed Siddiqi and senior secretary Mohibul Haque, over allegations of embezzlement in the name of airport development projects.

A senior ACC official confirmed it to The Daily Star today.​

 

[Saif]

ACC files cases against ex-state minister Mohibbur, his wife

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed separate cases against former State Minister of Disaster Management and Relief and ex-lawmaker for Patuakhali-4, Mohibbur Rahman, and his wife, Fatema Akhter, on charges of corruption

www.thedailystar.net

ACC files cases against ex-state minister Mohibbur, his wife

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed separate cases against former State Minister of Disaster Management and Relief and ex-lawmaker for Patuakhali-4, Mohibbur Rahman, and his wife, Fatema Akhter, on charges of corruption.

The ACC accuses Mohibbur, 67, of embezzling Tk 31 crore and Fatema, 58, of acquiring Tk 19 crore illegally.

ACC Assistant Director Minhaj Bin Islam filed the cases at the ACC head office on December 23, said Patuakhali ACC Assistant Director Russel Rony.

The allegations state that Mohibbur acquired undeclared assets worth Tk 7.64 crore and made illegal transactions of Tk 23.72 crore through 23 bank accounts from September 2000 to October 2024. Fatema is accused of earning Tk 3.92 crore from undeclared sources and conducting suspicious transactions of Tk 15.51 crore through 11 accounts.

Mohibbur was elected as a lawmaker for Patuakhali-4 in 2018 and 2024 as a Bangladesh Awami League candidate. He served as state minister for Disaster Management and Relief from January 2024 to August 2024. During his tenure, he acquired immovable assets worth Tk 6.21 crore, along with Tk 3.39 crore in savings and DPS accounts, totalling Tk 9.60 crore.

After deducting permissible income sources and expenses, the ACC found Tk 7.64 crore unaccounted for. He also laundered Tk 23.72 crore via suspicious bank transactions.

Fatema, a senior lecturer at Alhaj Jalal Uddin Degree College in Kalapara, allegedly amassed her illegal assets with help from Mohibbur. Her case involves Tk 3.92 crore of undeclared income and suspicious transactions of Tk 15.51 crore.

Following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led government on August 5, cases were also filed against Mohibbur in Kalapara and Mohipur police stations for an attack on the Kalapara BNP office and a Tk 50 lakh extortion demand. Both Mohibbur and Fatema have been in hiding since August.

Kalapara Upazila Awami League Senior Vice President SM Rakibul Ahsan accused Mohibbur of widespread corruption, intimidating opponents, buying land at nominal prices, and causing internal divisions within the party. He stated that Mohibbur's actions severely harmed the Awami League's reputation.​

 

[Saif]

Bangladesh’s feasibility study fallacy

Why so many ‘feasible’ projects become utterly infeasible and environmentally disastrous

www.thedailystar.net

Bangladesh’s feasibility study fallacy
Why so many ‘feasible’ projects become utterly infeasible and environmentally disastrous

The Karnaphuli Tunnel has become a white elephant eating up taxpayers’ money. FILE PHOTO: RAJIB RAIHAN

A recent white paper on Bangladesh's economy has reported that seven mega-projects drained Tk 80,569 crore (approximately $7 billion at today's rates) more from the state coffer than the initial estimates due to cost escalations and time overruns.

Unfortunately, not only mega projects show such appalling scenarios. Most government initiatives with public money (note "public money") would miserably fail post-project performance evaluation. It is not only time and cost overruns; the justification for undertaking them in the first place is often flimsy at best and dubious or non-existent in some cases.

We have recently seen several media reports about the unviability of the Karnaphuli tunnel project. Was a feasibility study not undertaken before the country's highest policymaking body approved the project? Did the study not include elaborate cost and benefit streams, return on investment, and an environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA)? The outcome is a 27 percent cost overrun and a white elephant eating up taxpayers' money. The revenue is far below, and the cost is much higher than those stated in the feasibility study.

The Dohazari-Cox's Bazar Railway Project's price tag shot through the roof, as its cost at completion was almost nine times the initial estimate! Then, it exposed the sorry state of the standards by which Bangladesh conducts ESIAs. The alignment ran through floodplains without adequate cross-drainage arrangements, resulting in massive damage to the tracks immediately after completion as monsoon waters rushed down the hills, hitting it with full force. Interestingly, the parallel-running roads have been operating satisfactorily for several years. Certainly, an economic feasibility study, including a rigorous ESIA, was conducted before an international financial institution (IFI) approved the loan for the railway project.

Hailed as an all-weather link that connects Itna, Mithamoin, and Astagram upazilas in Kishoreganj, a 30 km road running through a huge natural water body ("haor") has instead been wreaking havoc, causing untimely flooding and damaging crops on thousands of hectares of land. The road has impeded natural water flow into the rivers through the haor, causing waterlogging and flooding, which was never seen before in the area. Gobbling up Tk 874 crore (about $100 million at 2022 rates) from public funds, the road has adversely impacted local livelihoods, which depend on fishing when the land is inundated and farming at other times, making both difficult. Littering has become another problem as visitors mindlessly dump waste in the water. The project, reportedly undertaken at a president's behest, also had a feasibility study and ESIA conducted prior. However, it simply glossed over such adverse social and environmental impacts and cooked up its economic viability to get through the government's checkbox-ticking approval process.

The list is endless. Project preparatory studies are never conducted with the professional rigour, ethical standards, or integrity they deserve, whether funded by the government, IFIs (such as the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank) or bilateral financing agencies. The post-project evaluation mechanism is a routine instead of a systemic process of problem identification, lesson learning, and improving next-time exercise.

The Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Ministry of Finance requires project completion reports, which has also become a useless exercise and another form of public money wastage. Has the government ever asked the implementing agency, the consultant, or the contractor why their work was unsatisfactory? Was the outcome of any study ever questioned when such studies turned out to be grossly faulty? Has the responsible agency or persons ever been made accountable?

All these lead to another question, which is more to the point. Was any project dropped because the economic feasibility study found it infeasible, or the ESIA reported that it would have adverse impacts if implemented?

Let's delve deeper into the project screening process. In a classic case of potential conflict of interest, the same organisation (government, IFI or a bilateral financing agency) that intends to extend the fund usually pays for the feasibility study (which includes an ESIA). Such a study will be inherently biased and likely find the project feasible, toning down the adverse social and environmental impacts with impractical mitigation measures and monitoring mechanisms. A glaring case is the Rampal Coal-Fired Power Plant, located next to the Sundarbans, a fragile ecosystem, which anyone with common sense will consider an environmental disaster in waiting. A Greenpeace study reported that the plant would cause at least 6,000 premature deaths and low birth weights of 24,000 babies during its 40-year life. Burning five million tonnes of coal annually, the power plant would be among Bangladesh's largest sources of air pollution. The ritualistic feasibility study and its ESIA (commissioned by those with a stake in its go-ahead) played on like actors in a meticulously scripted sequence, producing volumes of reports without mentioning these unpalatable facts.

How can Bangladesh screen out projects that are infeasible, detrimental to the environment, and harmful to society? What mechanism will facilitate utilising public money more efficiently and sustainably? I will mention two broad measures in this piece, though there will be others. First, a performance audit mechanism should be set up, and accountability should be instilled in the relevant government implementing agency, its officials, and all external parties involved. Second, all feasibility studies should be conducted independently, without bias following the highest professional standards and ethics.

Ultimately, reform is a bitter pill that must be swallowed if the intent is sincere.

Dr Sayeed Ahmed is a consulting engineer and the CEO of Bayside Analytix, a technology-focused strategy and management consulting organisation.​

 

[Bilal9]

Joy denies graft in $12.65 billion nuclear deal​

Bangladesh's Anti Corruption Commission said on Monday it had launched an enquiry into allegations of corruption, embezzlement and money laundering in the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project, backed by Russia's state-owned Rosatom​

Sajeeb Wazed, son of the ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gestures during an interview with Reuters at the Prime Minister's residence in Dhaka, Bangladesh, December 29, 2018. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo

Sajeeb Wazed, son of the ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gestures during an interview with Reuters at the Prime Minister's residence in Dhaka, Bangladesh, December 29, 2018. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo

Ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's son and adviser on Tuesday described allegations of corruption involving the family in the 2015 awarding of a $12.65 billion nuclear power contract as "completely bogus" and a "smear campaign".

Bangladesh's Anti Corruption Commission said on Monday it had launched an enquiry into allegations of corruption, embezzlement and money laundering in the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project, backed by Russia's state-owned Rosatom.

A deal for two power plants, each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts, was signed in 2015.


ACC seeks transaction details of Hasina, Joy, Rehana, Tulip over Tk21,000cr embezzlement

The commission has alleged that there were financial irregularities worth about $5 billion involving Hasina, her son Sajeeb Wazed and her niece and British treasury minister Tulip Siddiq, through offshore accounts.

Siddiq and Rosatom did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Siddiq had denied any involvement in the claims and that he had confidence in her. Siddiq would continue in her role, the spokesperson added.

In August, Bangladeshi media quoted Rosatom as rejecting an earlier media allegation of corruption, saying it was "committed to transparent working practices, strict anti-corruption policies, and openness in all procurement processes".

Wazed, speaking on behalf of the family, said they were the targets of a political witch hunt in Bangladesh.

The government in Dhaka said on Monday it had asked India to send Hasina back. New Delhi has confirmed the request but declined further comment

"These are completely bogus allegations and a smear campaign. My family nor I have ever been involved or taken any money from any government projects," he told Reuters from Washington, where he lives.


"It is not possible to siphon off billions from a $10 billion project. We also don't have any offshore accounts. I have been living in the US for 30 years, my aunt and cousins in the UK for a similar amount of time. We obviously have accounts here, but none of us have ever seen that kind of money."

Reuters could not contact Hasina, who has not been seen in public since fleeing to New Delhi in early August following a deadly uprising against her in Bangladesh. Since then, an interim government has been running the country.

The government in Dhaka said on Monday it had asked India to send Hasina back. New Delhi has confirmed the request but declined further comment.

Wazed said the family had not made a decision on Hasina's return to Bangladesh and that New Delhi had not asked her to seek asylum elsewhere.

 

[Saif]

Joy denies graft in $12.65 billion nuclear deal​

Bangladesh's Anti Corruption Commission said on Monday it had launched an enquiry into allegations of corruption, embezzlement and money laundering in the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project, backed by Russia's state-owned Rosatom​

Sajeeb Wazed, son of the ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gestures during an interview with Reuters at the Prime Minister's residence in Dhaka, Bangladesh, December 29, 2018. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo

Sajeeb Wazed, son of the ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gestures during an interview with Reuters at the Prime Minister's residence in Dhaka, Bangladesh, December 29, 2018. Photo: REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain/File Photo

Ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's son and adviser on Tuesday described allegations of corruption involving the family in the 2015 awarding of a $12.65 billion nuclear power contract as "completely bogus" and a "smear campaign".

Bangladesh's Anti Corruption Commission said on Monday it had launched an enquiry into allegations of corruption, embezzlement and money laundering in the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project, backed by Russia's state-owned Rosatom.

A deal for two power plants, each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts, was signed in 2015.


ACC seeks transaction details of Hasina, Joy, Rehana, Tulip over Tk21,000cr embezzlement

The commission has alleged that there were financial irregularities worth about $5 billion involving Hasina, her son Sajeeb Wazed and her niece and British treasury minister Tulip Siddiq, through offshore accounts.

Siddiq and Rosatom did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Siddiq had denied any involvement in the claims and that he had confidence in her. Siddiq would continue in her role, the spokesperson added.

In August, Bangladeshi media quoted Rosatom as rejecting an earlier media allegation of corruption, saying it was "committed to transparent working practices, strict anti-corruption policies, and openness in all procurement processes".

Wazed, speaking on behalf of the family, said they were the targets of a political witch hunt in Bangladesh.



"These are completely bogus allegations and a smear campaign. My family nor I have ever been involved or taken any money from any government projects," he told Reuters from Washington, where he lives.


"It is not possible to siphon off billions from a $10 billion project. We also don't have any offshore accounts. I have been living in the US for 30 years, my aunt and cousins in the UK for a similar amount of time. We obviously have accounts here, but none of us have ever seen that kind of money."

Reuters could not contact Hasina, who has not been seen in public since fleeing to New Delhi in early August following a deadly uprising against her in Bangladesh. Since then, an interim government has been running the country.

The government in Dhaka said on Monday it had asked India to send Hasina back. New Delhi has confirmed the request but declined further comment.

Wazed said the family had not made a decision on Hasina's return to Bangladesh and that New Delhi had not asked her to seek asylum elsewhere.

ACC investigation will reveal the truth. He leads a lavish life in the USA with money stolen from Bangladesh. He is unemployed but owns a golf course in the USA. He is a thief.

 

[Saif]

ACC to probe allegations against Hasina, family over RAJUK plot allocation

The Anti-Corruption Commission on Thursday decided to conduct an inquiry against six people, including now ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana, over...

www.newagebd.net

ACC to probe allegations against Hasina, family over RAJUK plot allocation
Staff Correspondent 26 December, 2024, 17:06

Anti-Corruption Commission logo.

The Anti-Corruption Commission on Thursday decided to conduct an inquiry against six people, including now ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehana, over allegations of corruption in the allotment of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha plots in Purbachal.

This is the third inquiry by the commission against Sheikh Hasina over corruption allegations since the fall of her regime, leading her to flee to India on August 5 amid a student-led mass uprising.

The anti-graft agency also filed three cases against former state minister for power and energy Nasrul Hamid and his family members on the charges of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 64 crore and suspicious transactions of over Tk 3,000 crore in their bank accounts.

It took the decision for a probe against Sheikh Hasina and five others at a meeting held by commission chairman Mohammad Abdul Momen at its Segun Bagicha headquarters in Dhaka city, said agency director general (prevention) Md Akter Hossain.

The four others to be probed are Hasina’s son Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy, her daughter Saima Wazed Putul, Rehana’s son Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby, and her youngest daughter Azmina Siddiq.

According to the allegations, Sheikh Hasina, in collusion with top officials of Rajuk, facilitated the allocation of six plots—each is 10 katha in size—in her and family members’ names through irregularities and corruption during her prime minister’s tenure.

These six plots are situated on Road 203 in the diplomatic zone of Sector 27 of the Purbachal New Town project, as per the allegations.

Rajuk issued an allotment letter on August 3, 2022, allotting a 10-katha plot to Sheikh Hasina (plot number 009), while it allotted two plots to Sajeeb Wazed (plot number 015) and Saima Wazed (plot number 017).

Sajeeb’s allotment letter was issued on October 24, 2022, while Sayma’s allotment letter was issued on November 2, the same year.

A 10-katha plot (plot number 013) was also allocated to Sheikh Rehana. The same size plots were also allotted in the names of his son Radwan Mujib (plot number 011) and daughter Azmina Siddiq (plot number 019).

Earlier in October, the High Court also formed a three-member committee to investigate into the allegations in response to a writ file after media reports surfaced about irregularities committed in allocating Purbachal plots to the six members of Sheikh Hasina’s family.

The High Court also asked the committee to investigate allegations of irregularities in the allocation of plots by Rajuk during the past 15 years of the Awami League regime from 2009 to 2024.

On December 17, the ACC decided to conduct an inquiry against Sheikh Hasina, Sajeeb Wazed, Sheikh Rehana, and Tulip Siddique over allegations of embezzlement and corruption involving Tk 80,000 crore in nine mega projects.

As a part of the inquiry, the commission sent a letter to the office of the chief adviser on Tuesday, seeking information related to embezzlement of Tk 21,000 crore in eight special priority projects, including Ashrayan, BEZA, and BEPZA projects.

The team will also probe allegations of corruption worth Tk 59,000 crore in the Rooppur nuclear power plant project.

Apart from this, the anti-corruption agency, on December 22, also decided on an inquiry against Sheikh Hasina and her son Sajeeb Wazed over the allegations of laundering $300 million.

As part of the inquiry, the commission sent letters to various offices to collect documents related to offshore banking accounts and identity cards in the names of Hasina and her family members.

The ACC, meanwhile, filed three separate cases against Nasrul Hamid Bipu, his wife, and his son on the charges of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 64 crore.

The cases were filed with its integrated district office in Dhaka-1, said commission director general Akter Hossain, while talking to journalists at the commission’s headquarters in Dhaka on Thursday.

Of them, Nasrul was sued on the charges of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 36.37 crore and unusual transactions worth Tk 3,181 crore in his 98 bank accounts.

Another case was filed against his son Zarif Hamid for amassing illegal assets worth Tk 20.87 crore and suspicious transactions of Tk 13 crore in his 13 bank accounts.

Apart from this, Nasrul’s wife, Seema Hamid, has also been sued on the charges of accumulating illegal wealth worth Tk 6.94 crore and suspicious transactions of Tk 24 crore in her 20 bank accounts.

On August 22, the anti-corruption commission started an inquiry against Nasrul Hamid, also a former lawmaker from the Dhaka-3 constituency, who went into hiding since the fall of the Awami League regime.​

 

[Saif]

How Hasina’s kleptocracy destroyed good governance and the economy

This white paper remains as a dispassionate dissection of the unbelievable reign of plunder

en.prothomalo.com

How Hasina’s kleptocracy destroyed good governance and the economy
Moinul Islam
Published: 26 Dec 2024, 18: 06

Toppled from power in a mass uprising on 5 August this year, autocrat Sheikh Hasina fled to India. On 29 August, chief advisor Dr Muhammad Yunus announced that a committee headed by Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya would be formed to prepare a white paper on the economy.

The committee was given the task of looking into the state of the country's economy over the past 15 years of autocracy and to hand over a white paper in this regard to the government within three months.

On 1 December the committee handed in a draft of its white paper to Muhammad Yunus. The white paper was titled 'Dissection of a Development Narrative'. The draft report of around 396 pages consisted of 24 chapters in total. Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya claimed that the economy system during Sheikh Hasina's rule transformed from crony capitalism to kleptocracy.

Sheikh Hasina clinched a landslide victory in the 2018 election. As soon as they came to power, Awami League's ministers and the prime minister's relations unleashed unrestrained corruption and embezzlement. Some say that the prime minister has encouraged this. This white paper remains as a dispassionate dissection of the unbelievable reign of plunder. A detailed study of the white paper will reveal the following points.

These looters have rendered the executive, the civil administration, the judiciary, the financial sector institutions, the government revenue collection departments, and the investment regulatory departments extremely corrupt

One

The white paper's research revealed that by means of autocrat Sheikh Hasina's 15-year reign of plunder, a total of 234 billion dollars had been siphoned out of the country, at around 16 billion dollars a year. The most loot and plunder took place in the banking and financial sectors, the energy and power sectors, infrastructure and IT. The white paper studied the sector-wise facts and figures of this looting and published an estimate of the looted funds.

The white paper analysed 28 methods of corruption in this process of plunder. The United Arab Emirates, Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, India and several tax havens have been identified at the major beneficiaries of capital flight. With active patronage of the corrupt politicians, the main actors of this kleptocracy are business oligarchs, financial sector players, corrupt bureaucrats, contractors and middlemen, Hasina's relatives as well as influence peddlers and wheeler-dealers.

In collusion with each other, these looters have rendered the executive, the civil administration, the judiciary, the financial sector institutions, the government revenue collection departments, and the investment regulatory departments extremely corrupt and made then partners in the plunder. They have weakened investment and revenue collection. They have caused the foreign exchange reserves to collapse. They have destroyed macroeconomic management and good governance.

Two

Around 47 billion to 100 billion has been siphoned out to Canada. A total of 972 Bangladeshis own real estate in Dubai. At least 3600 Bangladeshis have bought houses under the 'second home' scheme in Malaysia. Every year on average 23 to 40 per cent of the country's Annual Development Programme (ADP) is misappropriated.

Three

Under the directives of the former planning minister Mustafa Kamal, from 2014 the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) became a hub of manipulating data. Every year the GDP figures were inflated. At the same time, in order to display a higher per capita GDP, the country's total population was shown to be lower than actual.

Inflated export revenue was put on display. Inflation rates were always shown to be lower than actual. The population under the poverty line was shown lower than it actually is to magnify the government's success in poverty alleviation.

The birth rate and mortality rate was shown to be lower than actual so that the population growth rate could be artificially shown to be low. The total fertility rate of the country was also depicted lower than actual so that this would depict the government to be successful in controlling population growth. In this backdrop, export earnings have fallen by around 5 billion dollars compared to the amount projected in the 2023-24 fiscal as projected by the previous government.

Four

Funds were looted by inflating the estimate for the expenditure on seven mega projects by 70 per cent more than the preliminary estimate. This is around 805.69 billion taka (80,569 crore taka). The mega projects included the Padma bridge project, the Karnaphuli tunnel project, Dhaka metro-rail project, the Dhaka-Mawa-Jashore-Payra rail route via Padma bridge project, the Chattogram-Dohazari-Cox's Bazar rail route project, the Payra port project and the Matarbari coal-fired power project. As no proper feasibility studies or cost analyses were carried out on these projects, this created the scope to increase costs by 70 per cent.

Five

The actual defaulted loans in the country's banking sector amount to 6,750 billion taka (6.75 lakh crore taka). The white paper terms the defaulted loans as distressed assets. According to the white paper, 13.5 metro-rails or 22.5 Padma bridges could have been constructed with these distressed assets. And 13,400 billion taka (13.4 lakh crore taka) has been siphoned out of the country by means of the illegal hundi channels. Meanwhile, 10 banks are technically bankrupt. Of these, two banks are state-owned banks and eight are Islamic Shariah-based banks. The banks are steeped in deep liquidity crisis.

The state-owned Janata Bank and BASIC Bank are victims of massive loan theft. The biggest loans have been taken from Islami Bank and other Shahriah-based banks, around 1500 billion taka (1 lakh 50 thousand crore) and siphoned out of the country by the looters.

Six

At least 27 billion dollars has been directly filched from the country's share market. Certain specific persons have looted over one trillion taka (one lakh crore taka) from the share market my various manipulations. No heed was paid to the report of the committee formed to look into the deliberate crash of the share market in 2010-11 fiscal. As a result, confidence in the Dhaka and Chattogram stock exchanges has seriously plummeted.

Seven

The country's Gini coefficient, that measure inequality in income, reached 0.5 in 2022. Among 72 countries where the World Bank carried out an income disparity survey, Brazil, Colombia and Panama had a higher Gini coefficient than this. Bangladesh's Gini coefficient for resource disparity reached an even worse level, going from 0.82 to 0.84 from 2016 to 2022. Bangladesh is now a country of excessively high income inequality and resource disparity.

Eight

From 1995 Bangladesh per capita growth has been shown to be higher than actual. That is why many development economists dub this GDP growth of Bangladesh as a paradox. After the fall of the autocratic ruler, the GDP growth rate will likely fall from the 6.5 per cent projected rate of the former government to 5.8 per cent.

Nine

The white paper said that around 770 billion taka to 980 billion taka (77 thousand crore to 98 thousand crore taka) has gone into the hands of the government officials in the form of bribes and corruption. And 700 billion to 1,400 billion taka (70 thousand crore taka to 1 lakh 40 thousand crore taka) has gone to the hands of politicians by similar means. And the wives and children of these bureaucrats and politicians have settled overseas.

* Moinul Islam is an economist and former professor at the economics department of Chittagong University.​