The son and advisor of ousted Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday described allegations of corruption against the family in the award of a $12.65 billion nuclear power contract in 2015 as “completely fake” and a “smear campaign”.
Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission on Monday said it has launched a probe into allegations of corruption, embezzlement and money laundering in the Rooppur nuclear power plant project backed by Russia’s state-owned Rosatom.
In 2015 an agreement was signed for two power plants with a capacity of 1,200 MW each.
The commission has alleged that there were about $5 billion of financial irregularities involving Hasina, her son Sajib Wazed and her niece and British Treasury Minister Tulip Siddiq through offshore accounts.
Rosatom, the world’s largest supplier of enriched uranium, denied the allegations, saying it was committed to tackling corruption in all its projects and that it maintained a transparent procurement system.
“Rosatom State Corporation is ready to defend its interests and reputation in court,” it said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
“We consider the false statements in the media to be an attempt to discredit the Rooppur NPP project, which is being implemented to solve the country’s energy supply problems and is aimed at improving the well-being of the people of Bangladesh.”
Siddiq did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Siddiq denied any involvement in the claims and that he believed them. Siddiq will continue in his role, the spokesperson said.
Wajed, speaking on behalf of the family, said they were the target of a political conspiracy in Bangladesh.
“These are completely fake allegations and a smear campaign,” he told Reuters from Washington, where he lives. “I or my family have never been involved in any government projects or taken any money from them.” “
“It is not possible to withdraw billions of dollars from a $10 billion project. We do not even have a foreign account. I have been living in the US for 30 years, my aunt and cousins have been living in the UK for the same period. Obviously We usually 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 she fled New Delhi in early August following a deadly insurgency against her in Bangladesh. Since then, an interim government has been running the country.
The government in Dhaka on Monday said it has asked India to send back Hasina. New Delhi confirmed the request but declined to comment further.
Wazeb said the family has not taken any decision on Hasina’s return to Bangladesh and New Delhi has not asked her to seek refuge elsewhere.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
