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

[Saif]

UK Prime minister asked to sack Tulip for corruption allegation

The United Kingdom’s leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch has called upon prime minister Sir Keir Starmer to dismiss treasury minister Tulip Siddiq amid corruption allegations and...

www.newagebd.net

UK Prime minister asked to sack Tulip for corruption allegation
Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha . Dhaka 12 January, 2025, 18:35

Tulip Siddiq | BSS photo

The United Kingdom’s leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch has called upon prime minister Sir Keir Starmer to dismiss treasury minister Tulip Siddiq amid corruption allegations and concerns as Bangladesh chief adviser professor Muhammad Yunus has called for an investigation into properties used by Tulip Siddiq in London.

‘It’s time for Keir Starmer to sack Tulip Siddiq. Now the government of Bangladesh is raising serious concerns about her links to the regime of Sheikh Hasina,’ Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch posted on her X account.

The statement followed remarks by professor Yunus in an interview with The Sunday Times, where the Nobel Laureate urged an investigation into London properties used by Siddiq.

He suggested these properties be returned to Bangladesh if found to have been acquired through ‘plain robbery’.

In her X post, Badenoch accused the UK PM of appointing his ‘personal friend Tulip’ as anti-corruption minister despite allegations of corruption against her.

In the interview, professor Yunus called for an investigation into properties used by Tulip Siddiq and her family, stating, ‘She [Tulip] becomes the minister for anti-corruption and defends herself. Maybe you didn’t realise it, but now you realise it. You say, ‘Sorry, I didn’t know it at that time, I seek forgiveness from the people that I did this and I resign.’ She’s not saying that. She’s defending herself.’

Siddiq, a member of the UK’s Labour Cabinet, serves as the economic secretary to the treasury and city minister, responsible for policies addressing corruption in financial markets.

Amid reports linking her to properties owned by allies of her aunt, ousted former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina, Siddiq referred herself to the independent adviser on ministerial standards, Sir Laurie Magnus.

In her letter requesting an investigation, Siddiq maintained her innocence. ‘I am clear that I have done nothing wrong,’ she wrote.

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer defended Siddiq at a press conference, stating she had ‘acted entirely properly’ in referring herself for investigation and expressing his ‘confidence in her’.

Siddiq has since withdrawn from accompanying the chancellor on a trip to China this weekend to assist with the investigation. Since then, several international media outlets have reported allegations against Tulip Siddiq, claiming she received free flats in London from allies of the ousted Awami League government in Bangladesh.

Additionally, several MPs from the ruling party have spoken against Tulip for allegedly receiving free flats.

The Sunday Times reported that she had used a flat in Hampstead, north London, which had been given to her teenage sister by lawyer Moin Ghani, who had represented the Hasina administration.

The Financial Times revealed that she had also used an apartment in King’s Cross given to her by Abdul Motalif, another associate of members of the Awami League party in Bangladesh.

Additionally, Siddiq is alleged to have facilitated discussions with Russia regarding Bangladesh’s Rooppur Power Plant in 2013, despite not holding an official position in the UK government at the time.

Allegations of embezzling approximately $4 billion from the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant have also implicated Sheikh Hasina and her family, including Siddiq.

Reports claim Siddiq has been interrogated by the UK cabinet office’s justice and ethics team as part of the investigation into these allegations.

Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India following the mass uprising, faces multiple allegations, including crimes against humanity, raised by the new Bangladeshi government.​

 

[Saif]

‘Getting overwhelming support’: Shafiqul Alam on stolen money

Reiterating interim government’s priority to bring back stolen money from abroad, Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam on Sunday that they are getting overwhelming responses from all those countries where the government suspects that stolen money might go. “We won’

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

‘Getting overwhelming support’: Shafiqul Alam on stolen money
UNB
Published :
Jan 12, 2025 22:02
Updated :
Jan 12, 2025 22:02

Reiterating interim government’s priority to bring back stolen money from abroad, Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam on Sunday that they are getting overwhelming responses from all those countries where the government suspects that stolen money might go.

“We won’t talk about any specific country but we are contacting with all….we would say we are getting overwhelming support and cooperation,” he said while responding to a question during a media briefing at the Foreign Service Academy.

Alam said they are working on these issues and a taskforce is working under the leadership of the Bangladesh Bank Governor.

“We are first looking at how to bring the money back. This is our top priority,” he said, adding that it was unlimited when they talked about stolen money.

The Press Secretary said they need to detect and trace first where the stolen money was kept.

He said they are looking into how the money was siphoned off and in which account. “We are doing whatever needs to be done for that. We have reconstituted the Anti-Corruption Commission. We have strengthened the Central Bank. The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit has been strengthened,” he said.

Alam said they are contacting the countries where the stolen money might go and the government is informing those countries that they should cooperate with the interim government. “We are getting that support from everyone. We are communicating with everyone,” he said.

CA’s Deputy Press Secretaries Apurba Jahangir, Abul Kalam Azad Majumder and Assistant Press Secretary Suchismita Tithi were also present.​

 

[Saif]

Hasina, Rehana named in case filed by ACC for unlawfully acquiring plots in Purbachal project

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against 16 individuals, including former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana, and several RAJUK officials, accusing them of illegally acquiring government plots in the Purbachal New Town project. ACC Director General (P

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Hasina, Rehana named in case filed by ACC for unlawfully acquiring plots in Purbachal project
FE Online Report
Published :
Jan 12, 2025 17:57
Updated :
Jan 12, 2025 18:06

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against 16 individuals, including former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana, and several RAJUK officials, accusing them of illegally acquiring government plots in the Purbachal New Town project.

ACC Director General (Prevention) Md Akhter Hossain confirmed the filing of the case on Sunday.

The allegations, as reported in newspaper clippings, appear specific, evidence-based, and fall under the schedule of offenses for the ACC. As such, it was deemed appropriate to investigate the matter through its special inquiry branch, he said.

On December 26, the ACC initiated an inquiry into the matter.

On that day, ACC Director General Hossain stated that Hasina, leveraging her political position and powers under Article 13/A of the Constitution, misused her authority and engaged in irregularities and corruption.

With the assistance of senior RAJUK officials, he alleged, she facilitated the allocation of six plots, each measuring 10 katha (a total of 60 katha), in the diplomatic zone of Sector 27 in the Purbachal New Town Project.

These plots were registered in her name, as well as in the names of her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, daughter Saima Wazed (Putul), younger sister Sheikh Rehana, and Rehana's children, Rezwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby and Azmina Siddiq, Mr Hossain added.​

 

[Saif]

Ex-minister javed: Court freezes his cement company’s bank account

A court in Chattogram has ordered to suspend the bank account of Aramit Cement Ltd, owned by former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed, in a case of defaulted loan of Tk 15 crore.

www.thedailystar.net

Ex-minister javed: Court freezes his cement company’s bank account

Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed

A court in Chattogram has ordered to suspend the bank account of Aramit Cement Ltd, owned by former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed, in a case of defaulted loan of Tk 15 crore.

Judge Mujahidur Rahman of the Chittagong Financial Debt Court issued the order yesterday afternoon, said the court's bench assistant Rezaul Karim.

Javed's wife Rukmila Zaman is the managing director of Aramit Cement, the company accused of defaulting on the loan.

Javed served as the state minister for land from 2014 to 2018 and as its minister from 2019 to 2023.

Before the 2024 parliamentary elections, he was accused of amassing huge wealth abroad. After that, he was not seen in the cabinet formed after the elections. Media reported that Javed moved to London with his wife and family members just before the fall of the Awami League government in the student-public movement on August 5 last year.

A review of the case documents revealed that when Javed was a minister, his family company Aramit Cement Ltd took a loan from Bank Asia.

After the company defaulted on the loan, seven people including Rukmila and Mohammad Masudul Islam, the first assistant vice president of Bank Asia, filed a case against Aramit Cement on November 11, 2023. However, Javed was not accused in the case.

On November 26 last year, Bank Asia informed the court that their total debt against the loan given to Aramit Cement stood at almost Tk 14.64 crore. The defendants do not have any property mortgage to the bank against this loan. Besides, the defendants left the country after the political changeover on August 5. They are accused of smuggling a huge amount of money abroad.

Bank Asia also asked the court to attach a bank account of Aramit Cement with the United Commercial Bank Ltd (UCBL), Bahaddarhat branch, for collecting the dues.

The court's bench assistant Rezaul Karim told The Daily Star, "After a hearing, the court ordered the suspension of all transactions of the company's UCBL bank account. At the same time, it issued the defendants a show-cause notice asking them to explain why all the accounts should not be attached."

"They will have to respond to the show-cause notice by January 20," he added.​

 

[Saif]

UK PM faces pressure to sack Tulip Siddiq

UK prime minister Keir Starmer faced fresh pressure Monday to sack his anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq, amid accusations over her family ties to Bangladesh’s toppled premier.

www.newagebd.net

UK PM faces pressure to sack Tulip Siddiq
Agence France-Presse . London 13 January, 2025, 21:17

Tulip Siddiq | BSS file photo

UK prime minister Keir Starmer faced fresh pressure Monday to sack his anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq, amid accusations over her family ties to Bangladesh’s toppled premier.

Siddiq has been dogged by claims about her links to her aunt Sheikh Hasina, who fled Bangladesh last August after a student-led uprising against her decades-spanning tenure as prime minister.

Earlier this month, the UK minister referred herself to Starmer’s standards adviser, following a flurry of allegations, including that she lived in properties linked to her aunt and the Awami League party Hasina led.

Siddiq has insisted that she has done nothing wrong.

Asked on Monday whether Siddiq’s position in the UK government remained tenable, senior British minister Pat McFadden told Sky News she had ‘done the right thing’ with the self-referral.

He insisted the standards adviser had the powers to ‘carry out investigations into allegations like this’.

‘That is what he is doing, and that is the right way to deal with this,’ McFadden said.

But UK opposition politicians want Siddiq fired.

‘I think it’s untenable for her to carry out her role,’ the Conservatives’ finance spokesman Mel Stride told Times Radio on Sunday.

‘It’s inappropriate for Tulip to be in the position that she holds at the moment. She is the anti-corruption minister in government,’ he said.

In December Siddiq emerged as a named target of a probe by Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission into the alleged embezzlement by Hasina’s family of $5 billion connected to a Russian-funded nuclear power plant.

Money laundering investigators there have since ordered the country’s big banks to hand over details of transactions relating to Siddiq as part of the probe.

Siddiq is an MP for a north London seat who is part of the finance ministry and responsible for the UK’s financial services sector as well as anti-corruption measures.

Over the weekend, a Sunday Times investigation revealed details about the claims that Siddiq spent years living in a London flat bought by an offshore company connected to two Bangladeshi businessmen.

The flat was eventually transferred as a gift to a Bangladeshi barrister with links to Hasina, her family and her ousted government, according to the newspaper.

It also reported Siddiq and her family were given or used several other London properties bought by members or associates of the Awami League party.

Bangladesh’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Prize-winning microfinance pioneer who heads a caretaker government, demanded a detailed probe in light of the allegations.

He told the newspaper the properties could be linked to wider corruption claims against Hasina’s toppled government, which he said amounted to the ‘plain robbery’ of billions of dollars from Bangladesh’s coffers.​

 

[Saif]

Tulip resigns as UK minister

Tulip Siddiq, British treasury minister, resigned yesterday after repeated questions about her financial links to the ousted Bangladeshi government run by her aunt Sheikh Hasina.

www.thedailystar.net

Tulip resigns as UK minister
Starmer accepts, leaves door open for her return

Tulip Siddiq, British treasury minister, resigned yesterday after repeated questions about her financial links to the ousted Bangladeshi government run by her aunt Sheikh Hasina.

In a letter to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Tulip, 42, repeated she had done nothing wrong but said continuing in office would likely "be a distraction from the work of the government".

Tulip, whose ministerial role included tackling corruption in UK financial markets, said she had fully declared all her financial interests and relationships.

Earlier this month, she had referred herself to Laurie Magnus, Starmer's adviser on ministerial standards, after it emerged she had lived in multiple properties associated with people with links to Sheikh Hasina.

Tulip was not found to have broken any rules by Magnus, reports The Guardian.

Labour MP Emma Reynolds has been appointed the new Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

Hasina fled after being deposed as Bangladeshi PM on August 5.

Tulip was under pressure over her occupancy of the properties, including a two-bedroom flat near King's Cross in central London and a separate home in Hampstead.

Besides, Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission has launched multiple probes into the alleged corruption of Hasina and her family members, including Tulip.

Tulip is one of those named in the commission's investigation into accusations of embezzlement of $5 billion connected to a Russian-funded nuclear power plant in Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi money laundering investigators have since ordered the country's big banks to hand over details of transactions relating to Tulip as part of the probe.

In her letter of resignation, Tulip said her "family connections were a matter of public record" and that she had acted with "full transparency".

She insisted her "loyalty is and always will be" to the Labour government and the "programme of national renewal and transformation it has embarked upon".

"I have therefore decided to resign from my ministerial position."

Starmer thanked Tulip for her work and recognised that "no evidence of financial improprieties on your part" had been found.

In a letter accepting her resignation, Sir Keir said the "door remains open" for Tulip, a Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate.

Over the weekend, a Sunday Times investigation revealed details about the claims that she spent years living in a London flat bought by an offshore company connected to two Bangladeshi businessmen.

The flat was eventually transferred as a gift to a Bangladeshi lawyer with links to Hasina, her family and her ousted government, according to the newspaper.

It also reported Tulip and her family were given or used several other London properties bought by members or associates of the Awami League party.

Hours after Tulip's resignation, a statement from Bangladesh interim government's Chief Adviser's Press Wing said Dhaka is committed to bringing back stolen money from around the world.

As Professor Yunus told The Sunday Times of London, Tulip may not have entirely understood the source of the money and property that she was enjoying in London, but she knows now and should seek forgiveness from the people of Bangladesh, it said.​

 

[Saif]

Govt committed to bringing stolen money back: CA press wing

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has already expressed the views of the vast majority of Bangladesh's citizens

www.thedailystar.net

Govt committed to bringing stolen money back: CA press wing

The interim government is committed to bringing the stolen money back to the country.

"We remain committed to accountability and justice, and we will be working with partners around the world to return the stolen funds to the people of Bangladesh," according to a statement issued from the press Office of Chief Adviser last night.

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has already expressed the views of the vast majority of Bangladesh's citizens.

He said properties and assets tied to stolen Bangladeshi funds, including those linked to individuals with connections to the previous regime, must be investigated thoroughly.

"If proven to have benefited from embezzlement, we expect those assets to be returned to Bangladesh, where they rightfully belong," he said.

As Prof Yunus told The Sunday Times of London, Tulip Siddiq may not have entirely understood the source of the money and property that she was enjoying in London, but she knows now and should seek forgiveness from the people of Bangladesh, the statement read.

The interim government is actively working with international law enforcement agencies to investigate and recover funds stolen from the people of Bangladesh. Such collaboration is vital to dismantle transnational networks of financial crime.

"We hope and expect all friendly governments, including the UK, to stand with the people of Bangladesh in seeking justice for these crimes. Corruption hurts everyone other than those who perpetrate it-and some of their favoured relatives and cronies."

The ongoing investigation into the $5 billion misappropriation linked to the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant underscores the scale of corruption under the previous government.

The misuse of public resources in this and other projects has not only robbed the people of Bangladesh but also disrupted the country's progress toward economic stability, the statement said.

The theft of billions of dollars in public funds has left Bangladesh with a significant financial deficit.

"The funds stolen from Bangladesh belong to its people. We will continue to work with our international partners to ensure that justice is done," the statement said.​

 

[Saif]

Seizure of 16 properties of S Alam ordered

The Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge’s court on Tuesday ordered the seizure of 68 bank accounts and 16 properties of S Alam Group chairman Mohammed Saiful Alam and his family.

www.newagebd.net

Seizure of 16 properties of S Alam ordered
Staff Correspondent 14 January, 2025, 18:51

S Alam Group chairman Md Saiful Alam | Collected photo

Court also orders freezing of 68 bank accounts of Alam, family

The Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge’s court on Tuesday ordered the seizure of 68 bank accounts and 16 properties of S Alam Group chairman Mohammed Saiful Alam and his family.

S Alam Group chairman Saiful Alam was a close associate of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina who fled to India amid a student-led mass uprising on August 5.

Several government agencies are investigating asset embezzlement and money laundering allegations against S Alam.

S Alam allegedly took about Tk 2 lakh crore from a number of banks in names and anonymously. A large portion of the funds was allegedly laundered abroad.

Saiful Alam and his family surrendered their Bangladeshi citizenship in 2020 and took Singaporean citizenship in 2021.

On Tuesday, the Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge’s court also directed the authorities concerned to freeze five bank accounts of former lawmaker for the Bogura-2 constituency Mohammad Shariful Islam Jinnah and his wife over allegations of corruption.

It also ordered the attachment of one of their vehicles and five immovable properties.

Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md Zakir Hossain Galib issued the order for the seizure of bank accounts and properties of Saiful Alam and his family.

He came up with the order following a petition submitted by Anti-Corruption Commission deputy director Siffat Uddin for the seizure of these assets, said ACC public prosecutor Mahmud Hossain Jahangir.

The 16 properties are the 10-story S Alam Tower at Gulshan, a six-story building with one bigha of land at Dhanmondi, a four-story building on 11.88 decimals of land at Dhanmondi Lake Circus, a flat on 2,658 square feet of land at Gulshan, a plot of 0.788 acres at Gulshan 2, a building at Maat Tala in the Uttara residential area, a plot of 103.3 kathas of land in the Bashundhara residential area at Vatara, 1,700 acres of land, 96 kathas of land, 1,536 acres of land, 11,061 bighas of land and 131.4 kathas of land.

Apart from these, the same court also imposed a travel ban on former environment, forest, and climate change minister Md Shahab Uddin, his son Zakir Hossain Jumon, and former deputy minister for environment and forests Abdullah Al Islam Jakob over graft allegations.

Judge Zakir Hossain Galib passed the orders, allowing two separate pleas of the ACC.

The anti-graft body in its plea against Shahab Uddin and his son alleged that the father-son duo had amassed huge illegal wealth through corruption and embezzlement of public money.

The ACC also said that it was probing allegations of corruption, embezzlement of public funds, laundering money, and amassment of huge illegal wealth against Jakob.​