The US intelligence agency, the FBI, confirmed the matter through its London representative and found evidence of serious financial irregularities and money laundering committed by Sajeeb Wazed and Sheikh Hasina.
It also mentioned that Linda Samuels, Senior Attorney of the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), contacted Special Agent La Prevot and found that $300 million was siphoned from Bangladesh to various bank accounts in the United States.
On September 9, a U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) delegation met at the commission headquarters with the director general of Bangladesh’s ACC’s money laundering and legal unit and other concerned officials and handed over a large volume of documents to Bangladesh’s ACC.
Besides, on October 1, a three-member EU delegation, led by Michal Krejza, head of cooperation at the EU delegation to Bangladesh, met then ACC chairman Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah and discussed the repatriation of laundered funds and technical assistance to strengthen the commission’s operational capabilities, said ACC officials.
Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has initiated an inquiry into allegations that ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, laundered $300 million to the United States.
Officials of the anti-graft watchdog told The Global Defense Corp on condition of anonymity that the complaint filed against Hasina and Joy has been forwarded to the ACC director general (special investigation) for further investigation.
On 17 December, ACC Director General Md Akhtar Hossain said the ACC had also launched a separate probe into claims that Hasina, Joy, Hasina’s sister Sheikh Rehana, Rehana’s daughter and British MP Tulip Siddiq, and others embezzled $7 billion through irregularities and corruption from nine priority development projects during the Awami League government’s tenure.
Sources said the nine projects include the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, Ashrayan, and others under BEPZA and BEZA.
Of the $7 billion, $5 billion has been reportedly embezzled from the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project alone.
British Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq has been named alongside her family in an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh.
Ms Siddiq is allegedly brokering a 2013 deal with Russia for a nuclear power plant and arms transfer in Bangladesh in which large sums of cash were embezzled.
The Labour minister’s aunt, Sheikh Hasina, was prime minister of Bangladesh for more than 20 years until recently and is now facing a wider investigation by an anti-corruption commission in the South Asian country.
Hasina resigned and fled to India with Rehana on 5 August in the face of a mass uprising led by students, which toppled the autocratic Awami League government led by her after 15 years of ruling.
According to Bangladesh’s Anti-corruption Commission officials, the name of Sheikh Hasina’s son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, first came to attention in 2014 in the case of the United States versus Rizvi Ahmed.
The FBI’s investigation revealed serious financial misconduct involving Sajeeb Wazed Joy.
Specifically, information surfaced about money being transferred from various bank accounts in Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands under his name through a local money exchange to Washington DC, New York, and London banks.
The FBI confirmed this through their London representative and found evidence of serious financial irregularities and money laundering.
A senior trial attorney and a special agent from the Department of Justice confirmed that $300 million from Bangladesh had been deposited into various US banks through shell companies in the Cayman Islands and Hong Kong.
Regarding the matter, ACC Chairman Mohammad Abdul Momen told reporters, “This incident is largely true. We may receive more specific information in the future. We will speak directly about it later.”
According to the recently published White Paper on the State of the Bangladesh Economy, Bangladesh lost $16 billion annually between 2009 and 2023 due to illicit fund flows under the authoritarian Awami League regime.
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