Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her son Sajib Wazed Joy and daughter-in-law Tulip Siddiq stole 5 billion or 5 billion dollars (60 thousand crores in Bangladeshi currency) from the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) through Malaysian banks. The Global Defense Corporation, which investigates corruption in the military and defense sectors of various countries, has given this information in a report on Saturday.
According to Global Defense Corp’s report titled ‘Austed Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Her Sun Sajib Wazed Joy and Nees Tulip Siddiq Embezzled $5 Billion From Overpriced $12.65 Billion Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Through Malaysian Banks’, the project’s implementing agency is Russia. Rosatom has given Sheikh Hasina the opportunity to embezzle this money through Malaysian banks. It was mediated by son Sajib Wazed Joy and niece Tulip Siddique.
It is said that the implementation of the long-cherished dream of a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh began in 2017. Sheikh Hasina started the construction of the main building of the power plant. This power plant is expected to supply up to 20 percent of the country’s electricity in the near future. Rooppur nuclear power plant is expected to produce 2,400 MW of electricity by 2024 using two VVER units. This will certainly help immensely in meeting the growing electricity demand of Bangladesh.
Sheikh Hasina and her family members siphoned off more than $5 billion to buy Soviet-era nuclear reactors from Russia’s state-run Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) under the guise of positive media coverage.
Its construction cost is estimated to be 12.65 billion dollars. Through this, Russia helped former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to secretly transfer five billion dollars to various banks in Malaysia. The money came from Russian special funds in those banks in Malaysia.
According to the report, Bangladesh has no experience in working with the nuclear sector. Besides, there are no professionals in Bangladesh who can look after the design and construction of nuclear power plants. Yet Bangladesh signed a power plant construction agreement with Russia and gave Russia full control of the construction without any supervision. This is because Sheikh Hasina and her family members received financial benefits of five billion dollars.
However, the recent media reports on the high construction cost of this project have given an opportunity to discuss the issue from various angles. People have now started questioning the entire power project. The involvement of top state institutions like the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission is truly unsettling.
Due to the public interest in the whole matter, it was no longer confined to a departmental inquiry and rolled up to the High Court Division. The investigation committee’s statement said, “The ministry has no involvement with the project’s official activities, contractor approval or appointment.” If the ministry is not in charge of supervision, then who will take responsibility for it?’
Tulip Siddique mediated the controversy between Sheikh Hasina and Russia’s Rosatom in London before the Rooppur nuclear power plant deal was finalised. Tulip Siddique was the companion of Sheikh Hasina during her meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2013. According to Global Defense Corp, he also mediated the Dhaka-Moscow billion dollar arms deal. After that, with the help of Russia, he also played an important role in the ongoing Rooppur nuclear power plant in Bangladesh.
However, Tulip did not give the service for free! In return, he has also received honorarium on a monthly basis from his aunt former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Apart from this since January 2009 Tulip’s mother Sheikh Rehana and some members of the Sheikh family have received 30 percent money as kick-backs (secret payments) from the Russians. The money was then secretly kept in several offshore bank accounts in Malaysia.
In 2009, Tulip Siddique, her mother Sheikh Rehana and uncle, the then Prime Minister’s Defense Adviser Tariq Ahmed Siddique, launched a fake company called ‘Prachhaya Limited’. The company has been accused of smuggling 900 million dollars from the Destiny Group to various countries including the United Kingdom. They also opened a company called Jumana Investments and Properties Limited in UK.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has summoned 33 officials of the Rooppur nuclear power plant project for their alleged involvement in a $64 million corruption scandal. According to the ACC notice sent on Sunday, the officials have been summoned to investigate allegations of abuse of power, irregularities and corruption in the power project. Commission spokesperson Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya confirmed that the ACC has directed the concerned officials to appear before the concerned authorities on November 6, 7, 11, 12 and 13.
