News Desk :
The ambitious Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP), envisioned to address Bangladesh’s escalating electricity demand, has now become mired in allegations of massive corruption involving former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her family.
Launched in 2017, the RNPP was designed to generate 2,400 megawatts of electricity through two VVER units by 2024, promising to supply up to 20% of the country’s electricity.
However, beneath this ambitious project lies a darker narrative of alleged embezzlement.
Reports suggest that Sheikh Hasina, along with her family members, siphoned off more than $5 billion as kickbacks, linked to the purchase of Soviet-era nuclear reactors from the Russian state-owned company, Rosatom.
The total construction cost of the RNPP stands at a staggering $12.65 billion, raising concerns about inflated prices and misappropriated funds.
According to the Global Defence Journal, a significant portion of this money was allegedly funneled into Malaysian banks through various Russian slush funds.
Bangladesh’s lack of experience in the nuclear industry and the absence of professional oversight have further compounded the issue.
The decision to entrust Russia with full control over the construction process, reportedly influenced by the $5 billion in kickbacks, has left the project vulnerable to inefficiencies and corruption.
Recent media reports on exorbitantly priced goods for furnishing apartments at the RNPP site have brought renewed scrutiny to the entire project.
The involvement of key institutions, such as the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), in these irregularities has sparked public outrage and judicial intervention.
A departmental inquiry has escalated to the High Court, raising questions about accountability within the ministry and the broader project management.
The “pillow scam,” in which ordinary items were purchased at grossly inflated prices, exemplifies the project’s systemic corruption.
The widespread mismanagement, fueled by inefficiency and unaccountability, has cast a long shadow over Bangladesh’s nuclear ambitions.
In developing nations like Bangladesh, for example, democracy is being gradually held hostage in the grips of corruption-plagued autocracy.
In a research study published on March 23, 2018, German thinktank Bertelsmann Stiftung has already listed Bangladesh among the autocratic regimes.
Because of the severe interference of the autocratic rulers, various institutions, including the judiciary, have already become mere puppets.
Back in 2015, when UK Labour Party’s MPP Tulip Rizwana Siddiq, daughter of Shafiq Siddique and Sheikh Rehana, won the election, her aunt Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, proudly told the country’s parliament how her niece had won the election, defeating her Western contestants.
The Prime Minister also told the parliament that her younger sister, Sheikh Rehana (Tulip’s mother), is a British national who lives in the UK and is experiencing financial hardships. Sheikh Rehana goes to work on a bus as she can’t afford to buy a personal vehicle.
Tulip Siddiq facilitated the negotiation of kickbacks from Rosatom to Sheikh Hasina in London before finalizing a deal to build a nuclear plant in Rooppur, Bangladesh.
Following her victory, Tulip Siddiq was invited to Bangladesh and was accorded several receptions. One such reception titled – Let’s Speak to Tulip Siddiq, MP, was organised at the Radisson Hotel in Dhaka and was sponsored by a fraudulent company named Prochchaya Limited.
According to media reports, Tulip Siddiq mediated a very controversial billion-dollar arms deal between Bangladesh and Russia in 2013. Under Russian assistance, she also played a key role in the ongoing Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh. Tulip didn’t offer this service for free!
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 30 percent ‘kick-back’ from the Russians and the entire amount has been secretly deposited in several offshore bank accounts in Malaysia.
Dhaka:s largest Bangla daily the Prothom Aloin a report dated April 12, 2015, titled: Tulip accused of concealing Putin link’, wrote: “A British newspaper has published a story alleging that Bangladeshi-origin La-bour candidate Tulip Siddiq concealed information of her meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, one of the most controversial figures in Europe today.
Mail Online reported that Tulip Siddiq was accused of “failing to tell voters that she met Vladimir Putin in Moscow two years ago in 2013 when a controversial billion-dollar arms deal was signed” [between Bangladesh and Russia].
The report said the Tories accused Ms Siddiq of trying to conceal her extraordinary links to Putin and Sheikh Hasina, the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh.”
