Expelled PM Hasina's child denies unite in $12.65bn atomic arrangement

 Sajeeb Wazed portrays claims of defilement as "totally sham" and "slanderous attack"

December 25, 2024

NEW DELHI: Removed Bangladesh head of the state Sheik Hasina's child and counselor, Sajeeb Wazed, on Tuesday portrayed charges of defilement including the family in the 2015 granting of a $12.65 billion atomic power contract as "totally false" and a "slanderous attack".

Bangladesh's Enemy of Debasement Commission said on Monday it had sent off an enquiry into claims of defilement, misappropriation and illegal tax avoidance in the Rooppur Thermal energy station project, upheld by Russia's state-possessed Rosatom.

An arrangement for two power plants, each with a limit of 1,200 megawatts, was endorsed in 2015.

The commission has affirmed that there were monetary inconsistencies worth about $5 billion including Hasina, her child Wazed and her niece and English depository serve Tulip Siddiq, through seaward records.

Rosatom, the world's biggest provider of improved uranium, discredited the claims, adding that it was resolved to battle debasement in the entirety of its ventures and that it keeps a straightforward obtainment framework.

"Rosatom State Organization is prepared to safeguard its inclinations and notoriety in court," it said in a messaged articulation to Reuters.

"We consider bogus proclamations in the media as an endeavor to ruin the Rooppur NPP project, which is being carried out to tackle the country's energy supply issues and is pointed toward further developing the prosperity of individuals of Bangladesh," the assertion further read.

Siddiq didn't answer a solicitation for input.

A representative for English State leader Keir Starmer said Siddiq had denied any contribution in the cases and that he really believed in her. She will proceed with her job, the representative added.

Wazed, talking for the benefit of the family, said they were the objectives of a political witch chase in Bangladesh.

"These are totally fake charges and a slanderous attack. My family nor I have at any point been involved or taken any cash from any administration projects," he told Reuters from Washington, where he resides.

"It is unimaginable to expect to redirect billions from a $10 billion undertaking. We likewise have no seaward records. I have been living in the US for a very long time, my auntie and cousins in the UK for a comparable measure of time. We clearly have accounts here, yet not a solitary one of us have at any point seen that sort of cash," he said.

Reuters couldn't contact Hasina, who has not been found in broad daylight since escaping to New Delhi toward the beginning of August following a dangerous uprising against her in Bangladesh. From that point forward, an interval government has been running the country.

The public authority in Dhaka said on Monday it had requested that India send Hasina back. New Delhi has affirmed the solicitation however declined further remark.

Wazeb said the family had not gone with a choice on Hasina's re-visitation of Bangladesh and that New Delhi had not requested that she look for haven somewhere else.