Bangladesh - Hasina regime corruption

[MNZGamerX]

Ousted Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy and niece Tulip Siddiq embezzled $5 billion from overpriced $12.65 billion Rooppur nuclear power plant through Malaysian banks, according to report by Global Defense Corporation.

The report says:

The long-cherished dream of having Bangladesh’s nuclear power plant began to shape form when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched the main building construction phase in 2017.

Nuclear power plants are expected to deliver up to 20% of electricity in the not-so-distant future. The (RNPP) Rooppur Nuclear power plant is supposed to produce 2400 megawatts of electricity using two VVER units, each capable of producing 1200 MW by 2024. This surely will drastically help to solve Bangladesh’s ever-increasing electricity demand.

Beneath the glitz of media propaganda, Sheikh Hasina and her family members have benefitted from the nuclear power plant project by embezzling more than $5 billion as kickbacks to purchase Soviet-era nuclear reactors from Russian Rosatom.

The power plant is overpriced, with a whopping construction cost of $12.65 billion. Russia assisted former Prime Minister Hasina in siphoning this $5 billion to various Malaysian banks from various Russian slash funds kept in the Malaysian banks.

Corruption in construction project

Bangladesh has no prior knowledge of nuclear industry nor Bangladesh has professionals who can take care design, and construction of nuclear power plant. Yet Bangladesh signed the contract with Russia to build power plant and let Russia completely control the construction without any supervision because Sheikh Hasina and her family received $5 billion kickbacks.

However, the recent media report regarding the high price of purchasing goods for furnishing apartments at the Rooppur power plant ignited the issue from a different dimension. Now, people are beginning to raise their finger on the entire project. It surely is discomforting that it involved many top-tier institutions like the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC).

This alarming issue drew public attention so that it couldn’t remain the only departmental inquiry but reached the High Court Division. According to the Probe Committee statement, “the ministry does not have any connection with official activities, and approval or appointment of the contractors in the project.” This statement raised another question: If the ministry cannot remain responsible for its supervising functionality, then who shall take the responsibility?

This unbelievable price tag and the transpiration cost indicate a direct form of corruption of a higher level of insincerity. Corruption may emerge from unethical actions, but it is promoted by inefficiency, insincerity, unaccountability, etc. Such a weaker form of organizational management is hardly expected from any other typical government initiative, let alone an issue like a nuclear power plant. Corruption is a contagious disease; if it isn’t cured, it spreads like cancer and affects every other surrounding. If the government take this matter seriously, then it could be a potential example of our foreign patterns as an indication of both corruption and unaccountability, which later may pave the path for more prominent and larger forms of corruption because nuclear plants involve the application of new technology, which aligned with such information asymmetry that may lead to corruption. Lastly, we shall not forget how the Nuclear Industry of Bangladesh was blown up by greed and corruption.

British MP Tulip’s Kremlin Connection

Media reports show Tulip Siddiq mediated a controversial billion-dollar arms deal between Bangladesh and Russia. Under Russian assistance, she also played a key role in Bangladesh’s ongoing Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant. Tulip didn’t offer this service for free! I. In addition to the monthly ‘honorarium’ she has been receiving from her aunt, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, since January 2009, Tulip’s mother, Sheikh Rehana and several members of the ruling family dynasty in Bangladesh got a 30 percent ‘kick-back’ from the Russians and the entire amount has been secretly deposited in several offshore bank accounts.

Corruption allegations against Tulip Siddiq’s family members: Tulip’s paternal uncle, Tarique Ahmed Siddique, is the Security Advisor to the Bangladeshi Prime Minister. His wife and daughter are stakeholders in a fake company named Prochchaya Limited (Incorporation Certificate Number C-75659/09, dated March 25, 2009).

This company, in affiliation with a slash fund cheat fund company named Destiny Group, had smuggled out around $900 million to different countries, including the United Kingdom and has opened a company named Zumana Investment & Properties Limited [Incorporation Certificate Number 7417417, dated October 25, 2010] in the United Kingdom by investigating dirty money. Various newspapers claim in the UK and worldwide that Labour Party MP Tulip Siddiq has maintained discreet connections with Moscow ever since she met President Putin. Some of those recently expelled Russian diplomats even visited the house of Tulip’s mother.

https://www.banglanews24.com/english/national/news/bd/153802.details

Original Global Defense Corp article -

Ousted Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Her Son Sajeeb Wazed Joy And Niece Tulip Siddiq Embezlled $5 Billion From Overpriced $12.65 Billion Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Through Malaysian Banks

The long-cherished dream of having Bangladesh’s nuclear power plant began to shape form when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched the main building construction phase in 2017. Tulip Siddiq before becoming a British member of parliament. Tulip always has Western views about life and married...

www.globaldefensecorp.com

 

[UKBengali]

Hmm.

Figure is too high and just under 8 billion US dollars won’t be enough to build that nuclear power plant as BD literally did nothing by itself but just pour some concrete under Russian supervision.

The timing is very odd as well.

 

[Pioneer]

Congratulations to our Bangladeshi friends. You succeeded earlier than Chinese revolutionaries. You have inspired us. Bangladesh is moving towards the right future.

 

[LeonBlack08]

@Al-Zakir Bhai - we can make this thread sticky and have all Hasina corruption under this one thread. More reports are coming out now of Hasina regime's looting in the last decade and a half.

 

[MNZGamerX]

Minister accused of failing to help lawyer who disappeared under aunt’s regime in Bangladesh​

Labour’s Tulip Siddiq could have used personal connections to try to free Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem Arman, his lawyers claimed

The Telegraph - August 17, 2024

A Labour minister has been accused of failing to help a British-trained barrister detained for nearly a decade in brutal conditions under her aunt’s authoritarian regime in Bangladesh.

Lawyers representing 40-year-old Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem Arman, who vanished in 2016, said that Tulip Siddiq could have used her personal connections to free him earlier from eight years of secret imprisonment.

He was one of hundreds of people who disappeared under the regime of Ms Saddiq’s aunt, Sheikh Hasina, the former prime minister of Bangladesh. She fled the country earlier this month as her government collapsed.

Sheikh Hasina, 76, the longest-serving prime minister of Bangladesh, is now in India, having been ousted after 15 years in power. During her tenure, opponents were attacked, arrested and secretly imprisoned as the regime carried out extrajudicial killings.

The criticism of Ms Siddiq comes after it emerged she was renting a £2 million house owned by a businessman said to be political ally of her aunt.

A year before Mr Arman disappeared, Ms Siddiq told journalists after she was elected as an MP for Hampstead in 2015 that her aunt had “taught me the most”.

“I learned everything about politics from her – social justice, how to campaign and how to reach out to the people,” she said.

Hasina was also present in the House of Commons gallery as her niece made her maiden speech, and on social media later hailed her aunt as a “strong female role model” for her own daughter.

Mr Arman, who was called to the Bar of England and Wales and studied at the University of London, was finally freed this month after the army ordered his release from a notorious detention centre following the collapse of Hasina’s government.

Lawyers said that Mr Arman was “snatched from his family” by the country’s Rapid Action Battalion, blamed for killing more than 1,000 people and hundreds of forced disappearances.

Michael Polak, a lawyer who fought to free Mr Arman, said he was
”interned in a secret internal detention facility called Aynaghar, where he was kept blindfolded and not allowed to speak with anyone” and feared he would be executed.

The detention centre’s name translates to “House of Mirrors” because a detainee in the Aynaghar cannot see anyone other than himself.

When the father-of-two was finally freed, he “believed he was about to be murdered”, but he was dumped in a muddy field outside Dhaka.

Mr Polak, the director of Justice Abroad, said that his detention was a direct result of the policies of Sheikh Hasina.

“It is clear that there was an official policy of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention under Sheikh Hasina’s regime, and it is telling that Arman was released immediately upon her fleeing to India.”

He said that both he and Mr Arman’s family pleaded with Ms Siddiq to lobby her aunt directly to release him, but they did not receive any assistance.

“We made respectful requests to Tulip Siddiq to intervene with her aunt, who she described as a great role model, even after being informed about enforced disappearances in Bangladesh,” he said.

“These came from me as well as from Arman’s mother, who asked for Tulip to intervene to return her son to his family including his two young daughters. Unfortunately, Tulip decided not to assist.”

He said that following a Channel 4 News report in November 2017 where Ms Siddiq was asked about the case, Bangladeshi police “attended the family property in Dhaka where Arman’s elderly mother, sister, wife, and two young daughters were residing in an attempt to intimidate them into stopping the broadcast.”

“This shows that what was happening in London was influencing actions on the ground in Dhaka,” Mr Polak said.

Letter to Foreign Secretary
It is understood that Ms Siddiq wrote to then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson over the case in December 2017, after it was raised by constituents, believing this was the correct protocol.

While Shabana Mahmood, now Justice Secretary, asked parliamentary questions about the case in January 2017, Ms Siddiq has not raised it in the House of Commons.

The City Minister has been criticised for not using her personal connections to try to free the barrister.

“The familial connections between Tulip and the regime, her aunt being the then Prime Minister Hasina and an uncle being Hasina’s feared security adviser Tarique Siddique, who himself has been accused of being involved in enforced disappearances should have been enough for her to get involved and for her to disassociate herself from this regime,” Mr Polak said.

Ms Siddiq once said on a blog that she worked for her aunt’s Awami League Party. She has attended official Bangladeshi government events such as a meeting between Hasina and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Polak added: “Despite all of this, Tulip decided not to intervene to bring Arman back to his family. Had she done so, he could have spent the last 8 years with his wife and two daughters watching them grow up rather than in a secret cell without any access to sunlight, hearing the cries of those tortured in the same facility, thinking that the regime might end his life at any time.

“I still do not understand why Tulip made this choice and described Hasina as a strong role model for her children, despite the huge amount of evidence, including from organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, in relation to the hundreds of disappeared ripped away from their loved ones, some never to return.”

Last week, it emerged she was renting a £2 million house owned by a businessman said to be political ally of her aunt.

Labour said this is paid at “market levels” and relevant disclosures had been made to the Treasury, but did not provide an on-the-record statement on the case of Mr Arman.

However, sources said she was unable to raise the issue as a constituency MP and only able to do so when it was raised by her constituents

Minister accused of failing to help lawyer who disappeared under aunt’s regime in Bangladesh

Labour’s Tulip Siddiq could have used personal connections to try to free Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem Arman, his lawyers claimed

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[PakFactor]

Minister accused of failing to help lawyer who disappeared under aunt’s regime in Bangladesh​

Labour’s Tulip Siddiq could have used personal connections to try to free Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem Arman, his lawyers claimed

The Telegraph - August 17, 2024

A Labour minister has been accused of failing to help a British-trained barrister detained for nearly a decade in brutal conditions under her aunt’s authoritarian regime in Bangladesh.

Lawyers representing 40-year-old Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem Arman, who vanished in 2016, said that Tulip Siddiq could have used her personal connections to free him earlier from eight years of secret imprisonment.

He was one of hundreds of people who disappeared under the regime of Ms Saddiq’s aunt, Sheikh Hasina, the former prime minister of Bangladesh. She fled the country earlier this month as her government collapsed.

Sheikh Hasina, 76, the longest-serving prime minister of Bangladesh, is now in India, having been ousted after 15 years in power. During her tenure, opponents were attacked, arrested and secretly imprisoned as the regime carried out extrajudicial killings.

The criticism of Ms Siddiq comes after it emerged she was renting a £2 million house owned by a businessman said to be political ally of her aunt.

A year before Mr Arman disappeared, Ms Siddiq told journalists after she was elected as an MP for Hampstead in 2015 that her aunt had “taught me the most”.

“I learned everything about politics from her – social justice, how to campaign and how to reach out to the people,” she said.

Hasina was also present in the House of Commons gallery as her niece made her maiden speech, and on social media later hailed her aunt as a “strong female role model” for her own daughter.

Mr Arman, who was called to the Bar of England and Wales and studied at the University of London, was finally freed this month after the army ordered his release from a notorious detention centre following the collapse of Hasina’s government.

Lawyers said that Mr Arman was “snatched from his family” by the country’s Rapid Action Battalion, blamed for killing more than 1,000 people and hundreds of forced disappearances.

Michael Polak, a lawyer who fought to free Mr Arman, said he was
”interned in a secret internal detention facility called Aynaghar, where he was kept blindfolded and not allowed to speak with anyone” and feared he would be executed.

The detention centre’s name translates to “House of Mirrors” because a detainee in the Aynaghar cannot see anyone other than himself.

When the father-of-two was finally freed, he “believed he was about to be murdered”, but he was dumped in a muddy field outside Dhaka.

Mr Polak, the director of Justice Abroad, said that his detention was a direct result of the policies of Sheikh Hasina.

“It is clear that there was an official policy of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention under Sheikh Hasina’s regime, and it is telling that Arman was released immediately upon her fleeing to India.”

He said that both he and Mr Arman’s family pleaded with Ms Siddiq to lobby her aunt directly to release him, but they did not receive any assistance.

“We made respectful requests to Tulip Siddiq to intervene with her aunt, who she described as a great role model, even after being informed about enforced disappearances in Bangladesh,” he said.

“These came from me as well as from Arman’s mother, who asked for Tulip to intervene to return her son to his family including his two young daughters. Unfortunately, Tulip decided not to assist.”

He said that following a Channel 4 News report in November 2017 where Ms Siddiq was asked about the case, Bangladeshi police “attended the family property in Dhaka where Arman’s elderly mother, sister, wife, and two young daughters were residing in an attempt to intimidate them into stopping the broadcast.”

“This shows that what was happening in London was influencing actions on the ground in Dhaka,” Mr Polak said.

Letter to Foreign Secretary
It is understood that Ms Siddiq wrote to then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson over the case in December 2017, after it was raised by constituents, believing this was the correct protocol.

While Shabana Mahmood, now Justice Secretary, asked parliamentary questions about the case in January 2017, Ms Siddiq has not raised it in the House of Commons.

The City Minister has been criticised for not using her personal connections to try to free the barrister.

“The familial connections between Tulip and the regime, her aunt being the then Prime Minister Hasina and an uncle being Hasina’s feared security adviser Tarique Siddique, who himself has been accused of being involved in enforced disappearances should have been enough for her to get involved and for her to disassociate herself from this regime,” Mr Polak said.

Ms Siddiq once said on a blog that she worked for her aunt’s Awami League Party. She has attended official Bangladeshi government events such as a meeting between Hasina and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Polak added: “Despite all of this, Tulip decided not to intervene to bring Arman back to his family. Had she done so, he could have spent the last 8 years with his wife and two daughters watching them grow up rather than in a secret cell without any access to sunlight, hearing the cries of those tortured in the same facility, thinking that the regime might end his life at any time.

“I still do not understand why Tulip made this choice and described Hasina as a strong role model for her children, despite the huge amount of evidence, including from organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, in relation to the hundreds of disappeared ripped away from their loved ones, some never to return.”

Last week, it emerged she was renting a £2 million house owned by a businessman said to be political ally of her aunt.

Labour said this is paid at “market levels” and relevant disclosures had been made to the Treasury, but did not provide an on-the-record statement on the case of Mr Arman.

However, sources said she was unable to raise the issue as a constituency MP and only able to do so when it was raised by her constituents

Minister accused of failing to help lawyer who disappeared under aunt’s regime in Bangladesh

Labour’s Tulip Siddiq could have used personal connections to try to free Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem Arman, his lawyers claimed

www.telegraph.co.uk

So Bangladeshis were living the Pakistani lifestyle behind the curtain. It's disheartening that force can only be applied against one's own citizens and never to external threats.

 

[Cryptonian]

Bangladesh has no prior knowledge of nuclear industry nor Bangladesh has professionals who can take care design, and construction of nuclear power plant. Yet Bangladesh signed the contract with Russia to build power plant and let Russia completely control the construction without any supervision

You gotta start somewhere. Jamati and BNP supporters can suggest how else is BD gonna put first step in Nuclear domain.
Also loads of garbage in the article but zero evidence of money trail.

 

[Strider]

Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant: Separating fact from fiction in the $5bn embezzlement allegations​

Tribune Report
Publish : 20 Aug 2024, 09:15 PMUpdate : 21 Aug 2024, 01:25 AM

A report alleges Sheikh Hasina, Joy and Tulip Siddiq profited hugely from Rooppur nuclear power plant deal

A little known website called Global Defense Corp has alleged that former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her son Sajib Wazed Joy, and niece Tulip Siddiq have reportedly embezzled over $5 billion in collusion with Russian officials by artificially inflating the cost of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP).

This website should not be confused with the US based Global Defense Corp, which according to Bloomberg is a company specializing in monitoring and maintaining security system devices such as burglar and fire alarms.

The website, global defense corp, has previously posted stories that appear more like blogs than news reports, that need evidence and corroboration. Such as the story on S Alam where journalists found copies of donations to Cyprus in exchange for a passport and the shell companies he used to buy apartments in Singapore.

There are a lot of spelling mistakes and typos in this particular story, such as: “Russia assisted former prime minister Hasina in siphoning this $5 billion to various Malaysian banks from various Russian slash funds kept in the Malaysian banks.”

What they mean is slush funds- a reserve of money used for illicit purposes, especially political bribery not slash funds.

The website's ownership and registration too is extremely opaque. While using Who.is we found registration, administration and technical contact info to be under Privacy Project LLC located at 10 Corporate Drive in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA.

Fact check-Hasina-Rooppur

10 Corporate Drive in Burlington is the address of a commercial building in an area with shops and business in a small town in Massachusetts, USA. The website for the commercial building does not register a company named Global Defense Corp under registered businesses. All we know is that the website was launched in 2018.


While the RNPP, constructed by the Russian agency Rosatom is being built at a cost that is nearly double that of similar projects in the subcontinent, particularly in India, there have been no official investigations or reports on why that is.

The practice of over invoicing is nothing new in Bangladesh. Just in April this year, it was revealed that the government paid Tk93 lakh for two pipe cutters for the Matarbari Power Plant.

Customs officials found that the price of two German-made hammers was shown Tk1.82 lakh. Similarly, the price of two pipe cutters made by the same German company was shown at Tk92.99 lakh, reported a local English newspaper.

The website of the German company, KS Tools shows the price of a look-alike hammer is 13.90 euros or TK 1,668 each, which is 55 times or 5,500%less than the imported price.

The company website also shows the price of a pipe cutter that matches with the imported one is 60.27 euros or Tk7,232 each, 642 times (64,200%) less than the imported value, the newspaper found.

Officials involved with the Rooppur project have declined to comment on the high costs compared to other similar-sized projects, such as the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, Tamil Nadu in India.

The original cost of the two units for Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant was ₹13,171 crore, but it was later revised to ₹17,270 crore (US$2.6 billion). Russia advanced a credit of ₹ 6,416 crore (US$0.97 billion) for both the units, according to Frontline.

The Ministry of Science and Technology in Bangladesh said the financial cost of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) project is approximately $12.65 billion.

The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant Units 3 and 4, which are being built by Rosatom, cost approximately $6.5 billion for both units. If we consider that each unit might cost around $3.25 billion, this gives us a baseline of roughly $3 billion per unit.

If similar plants cost around $2 billion per unit in India, this baseline is an important reference for cost expectations in Bangladesh.

Given that Bangladesh is building its first nuclear power plant, initial costs might be higher due to factors like the lack of existing infrastructure and supply chains.

For a fair comparison, assuming a reasonable increase for first-time costs (e.g., 50% to 100% higher due to the initial setup), a more realistic estimate for a new plant in Bangladesh might be around $3 to $4 billion per unit, compared to $2 billion in India.

The higher reported costs for Rooppur, the actual cost should be in the range of $6 to $8 billion for the entire 2,400 MW project, considering it involves multiple units and additional factors such as regulatory and logistical challenges.

So, if a comparable nuclear power plant in India costs about $2 billion per unit, the expected cost for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh should ideally be around $6 to $8 billion, factoring in the additional costs associated with setting up a first-time project.

The reported cost of $12.65 billion suggests that the RNPP is significantly more expensive than similar projects, raising questions about potential overinflation or mismanagement, which is typical of all large scale projects in Bangladesh.

Exactly who and where that money has gone, is yet to be investigated by the appropriate authorities.

A study published in the Environmental Science and Pollution Research journal on January 19, 2022, found that Bangladesh has borne significant setup costs for various facilities, including telecommunications, transportation, and water and gridline establishment.

The study, titled “Estimating the Economic Cost of Setting Up a Nuclear Power Plant at Rooppur in Bangladesh,” compared the costs of Rooppur Units 1 and 2 to India’s Kudankulam Units 3 and 4, both of which are being built by Rosatom, Russia’s largest electricity producer.

Representatives of Rosatom have denied any allegations of wrongdoing in the RNPP project and say they are prepared to defend themselves in court.

In a statement released on Monday, August 19, Rosatom dismissed the allegations as baseless and stated its readiness to take legal action to protect its reputation and interests.

"Rosatom rejects the provocative news published and circulated in the media regarding unethical financial transactions in the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project. We are committed to transparent working practices, strict anti-corruption policies, and openness in all procurement processes," the statement read.

The agency emphasized that all business processes are subject to regular external audits, ensuring transparency and accountability.

"We view the false information published and circulated in the media as an attempt to discredit the Rooppur Nuclear Power Project, which is vital for addressing Bangladesh's electricity shortage and improving the welfare of its people," Rosatom added.

The study found that the economic cost of the Rooppur project is nearly double that of Kudankulam Units 3 and 4, which are India’s 25th and 26th nuclear power reactors.

According to the study, the economic cost was 9.36 cents per kWh for a capacity of 2,400 MW, compared to Kudankulam, where the corresponding cost is 5.36 cents per kWh for 2,000 MW.

The fifth and sixth units of Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu, which were not covered in the study, will also have a financial cost of about $6.5 billion to build.

On July 26, 2016, Bangladesh signed an intergovernmental credit agreement with Russia amounting to $11.385 billion—90% of the total cost—to finance the construction of the 2,400 MW nuclear power plant.

According to experts, the cost of construction in Bangladesh is significantly higher than in other countries, including neighboring India, despite using the same Russian technology.

The project, implemented by the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission under the supervision of the Ministry of Science and Technology, is more expensive because it is the first nuclear power plant in Bangladesh, according to one report. However, expert analysts suggest that the price tag is inflated far beyond any rational pricing, leading to charges of corruption and collusion on the part of the Bangladeshi officials responsible for the deal.

Furthermore, the cost in Bangladesh is higher than in Belarus, which is also setting up its first nuclear plants using Russian VVER technology, indicating that there are additional reasons for the higher expenditures beyond the first-time cost of installing an NPP, even accounting for the fact that costs are lower in Belarus due to its proximity to Russia which reduces transportation costs.

“Equipment, machinery, and tools for the Rooppur NPP are being manufactured in Russian factories,” said Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Assistant Professor Abid Hossain Khan. “The equipment is then brought by waterways. So, the distance between nations is important when calculating costs,” he added.

He also noted that construction costs might decrease if Bangladesh could manufacture some of the equipment domestically.

None of the officials related to the project was willing to comment on the high cost of the Rooppur NPP compared to similar projects in India and Belarus. However, speaking to the Dhaka Tribune on condition of anonymity, they mentioned that the initial investment for the project was relatively high, but the plant would supply clean electricity at a low rate over its 60-year lifetime.

On October 2, 2013, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the first phase of construction for the project.

Three years later, on November 30, 2016, the first concrete casting work for the first unit was inaugurated by her.

On October 10, 2021, the first unit of the Reactor Pressure Vessel was installed.

According to the World Nuclear Association, 447 nuclear reactors are currently operational in 30 countries.

As many as 60 new reactors are under construction worldwide, with 39 of them in rapidly developing countries in Asia.

China alone has 19 reactors under construction, while India has seven, the United Arab Emirates four, South Korea three, and Russia seven.

Source: https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/355474/rooppur-nuclear-power-plant-separating-fact-from

 

[Strider]

Minister accused of failing to help lawyer who disappeared under aunt’s regime in Bangladesh​

Labour’s Tulip Siddiq could have used personal connections to try to free Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem Arman, his lawyers claimed

The Telegraph - August 17, 2024

A Labour minister has been accused of failing to help a British-trained barrister detained for nearly a decade in brutal conditions under her aunt’s authoritarian regime in Bangladesh.

Lawyers representing 40-year-old Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem Arman, who vanished in 2016, said that Tulip Siddiq could have used her personal connections to free him earlier from eight years of secret imprisonment.

He was one of hundreds of people who disappeared under the regime of Ms Saddiq’s aunt, Sheikh Hasina, the former prime minister of Bangladesh. She fled the country earlier this month as her government collapsed.

Sheikh Hasina, 76, the longest-serving prime minister of Bangladesh, is now in India, having been ousted after 15 years in power. During her tenure, opponents were attacked, arrested and secretly imprisoned as the regime carried out extrajudicial killings.

The criticism of Ms Siddiq comes after it emerged she was renting a £2 million house owned by a businessman said to be political ally of her aunt.

A year before Mr Arman disappeared, Ms Siddiq told journalists after she was elected as an MP for Hampstead in 2015 that her aunt had “taught me the most”.

“I learned everything about politics from her – social justice, how to campaign and how to reach out to the people,” she said.

Hasina was also present in the House of Commons gallery as her niece made her maiden speech, and on social media later hailed her aunt as a “strong female role model” for her own daughter.

Mr Arman, who was called to the Bar of England and Wales and studied at the University of London, was finally freed this month after the army ordered his release from a notorious detention centre following the collapse of Hasina’s government.

Lawyers said that Mr Arman was “snatched from his family” by the country’s Rapid Action Battalion, blamed for killing more than 1,000 people and hundreds of forced disappearances.

Michael Polak, a lawyer who fought to free Mr Arman, said he was
”interned in a secret internal detention facility called Aynaghar, where he was kept blindfolded and not allowed to speak with anyone” and feared he would be executed.

The detention centre’s name translates to “House of Mirrors” because a detainee in the Aynaghar cannot see anyone other than himself.

When the father-of-two was finally freed, he “believed he was about to be murdered”, but he was dumped in a muddy field outside Dhaka.

Mr Polak, the director of Justice Abroad, said that his detention was a direct result of the policies of Sheikh Hasina.

“It is clear that there was an official policy of enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention under Sheikh Hasina’s regime, and it is telling that Arman was released immediately upon her fleeing to India.”

He said that both he and Mr Arman’s family pleaded with Ms Siddiq to lobby her aunt directly to release him, but they did not receive any assistance.

“We made respectful requests to Tulip Siddiq to intervene with her aunt, who she described as a great role model, even after being informed about enforced disappearances in Bangladesh,” he said.

“These came from me as well as from Arman’s mother, who asked for Tulip to intervene to return her son to his family including his two young daughters. Unfortunately, Tulip decided not to assist.”

He said that following a Channel 4 News report in November 2017 where Ms Siddiq was asked about the case, Bangladeshi police “attended the family property in Dhaka where Arman’s elderly mother, sister, wife, and two young daughters were residing in an attempt to intimidate them into stopping the broadcast.”

“This shows that what was happening in London was influencing actions on the ground in Dhaka,” Mr Polak said.

Letter to Foreign Secretary
It is understood that Ms Siddiq wrote to then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson over the case in December 2017, after it was raised by constituents, believing this was the correct protocol.

While Shabana Mahmood, now Justice Secretary, asked parliamentary questions about the case in January 2017, Ms Siddiq has not raised it in the House of Commons.

The City Minister has been criticised for not using her personal connections to try to free the barrister.

“The familial connections between Tulip and the regime, her aunt being the then Prime Minister Hasina and an uncle being Hasina’s feared security adviser Tarique Siddique, who himself has been accused of being involved in enforced disappearances should have been enough for her to get involved and for her to disassociate herself from this regime,” Mr Polak said.

Ms Siddiq once said on a blog that she worked for her aunt’s Awami League Party. She has attended official Bangladeshi government events such as a meeting between Hasina and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Polak added: “Despite all of this, Tulip decided not to intervene to bring Arman back to his family. Had she done so, he could have spent the last 8 years with his wife and two daughters watching them grow up rather than in a secret cell without any access to sunlight, hearing the cries of those tortured in the same facility, thinking that the regime might end his life at any time.

“I still do not understand why Tulip made this choice and described Hasina as a strong role model for her children, despite the huge amount of evidence, including from organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, in relation to the hundreds of disappeared ripped away from their loved ones, some never to return.”

Last week, it emerged she was renting a £2 million house owned by a businessman said to be political ally of her aunt.

Labour said this is paid at “market levels” and relevant disclosures had been made to the Treasury, but did not provide an on-the-record statement on the case of Mr Arman.

However, sources said she was unable to raise the issue as a constituency MP and only able to do so when it was raised by her constituents

Minister accused of failing to help lawyer who disappeared under aunt’s regime in Bangladesh

Labour’s Tulip Siddiq could have used personal connections to try to free Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem Arman, his lawyers claimed

www.telegraph.co.uk

She should be kicked out of Labour Party.

 

[MNZGamerX]

হারুনের দালানের খনি!
সম্পদে সাবেক আইজিপি বেনজীর আহমেদকেও ছাড়িয়ে গেছে হারুন। রাজধানীর উত্তরা, গাজীপুর, আশুলিয়া ও কক্সবাজারের টেকনাফে অঢেল সম্পদের মালিক তিনি। বেশ কয়েকটি হোটেল ও রিসোর্টের কর্ণধার।
আশুলিয়ার নন্দন পার্কেও তার শেয়ার আছে। কিশোরগঞ্জে বেনামে প্রেসিডেন্ট রিসোর্টের মালিক। সাবেক রাষ্ট্রপতি আবদুল হামিদ ও সাবেক স্বরাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী আসাদুজ্জামান খানের আশকারায় হয়ে ওঠে বেপরোয়া।

 

[LeonBlack08]

According to Salman F Rahman - a BAL oligarch who is now under police interrogation - half of the money stolen by the S Alam Group (another BAL Oligarch) was shared with Sheikh Rehana and Sajeeb Wajed Joy (Hasina's sister and son).

This is a developing story - more to follow.

@Mr X @Musings brothers - can you please rename this thread to "Bangladesh - Hasina regime corruption" or something of that sort. This will be the master thread for all Hasina regime corruption.

 

[RescueRanger]

Thread title changed as per request.

 

[LeonBlack08]

Customs intelligence investigating power imports from India's Adani Group​

An eight-strong committee will focus on issues related to customs duty exemptions or waivers during the import process

When asked which aspects the investigation would cover, Billah told bdnews24.com: "First, we will examine the contract made with Adani to understand its specifics.

"Next, we will look into which customs stations were used for the power imports and what their declarations were."

The committee head added that they would also verify whether the HS code used for importing electricity from Adani aligns with the Customs Act.

"We will begin with the contract to check whether customs laws have been properly followed."

Billah said the committee will get down to work on Sunday.

Full report: https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/99cf70784086

 

[EyelessInGaza]

This is a classic example of a poor quality report by a dubious source, with questionable (at best) analysis. Simply bait.