Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has denied the allegations of involvement of her family members in Padma Bridge corruption scandal. In an interview with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) aired on May 15, she outright rejected that her sister Sheikh Rehana’s name is included in the list of people bribed by SNC-Lavalin, a Canadian company, to get a contract for the bridge. “Such allegations are fabricated,” the prime minister told CBC correspondent Terence McKenna during the 15-minute interview that was broadcast all over Canada in its widely viewed prime-time news bulletin called “The National.”
“Absolutely not, all concocted,” Sheikh Hasina firmly responded when the CBC correspondent asked her: “ACC accused you in previous cases to raise money through your sister. Here again, the SNC-Lavalin was asked to pay money to your friends and family, is that not so?”
The prime minister was surprised and denied the allegation when the interviewer asked her if it was true that accused Syed Abul Hossain was the “unofficial treasurer and cashier” of Awami League and responsible for collecting funds for the party.
“Awami League is not involved in corruption…we are working very hard to develop the country,” Sheikh Hasina insisted and said the Padma Bridge scam had not stained Bangladesh’s relations with the World Bank. “Other projects of the global lending agency are going on smoothly in the country.”
In this connection, the prime minister said: “The construction of the bridge was important to link the country’s underdeveloped southern region to the business centre. We repeatedly asked the Canadian government and World Bank to provide proof of corruption but they failed to provide any specific evidence.”
Terence McKenna also interviewed ACC Chief Counsel Anisul Haque and former State Minister for Foreign Affairs Abul Hassan Chowdhury. Anisul Haque said there was evidence for a plot of corruption. “ACC filed a case based on it.” Chowdhury refuted all allegations against him and said he had no idea how his name had been linked to the Padma Bridge project.
The Canadian-based SNC-Lavalin was banned from all World Bank projects for 10 years after allegations of trying to secure consultancy for the Padma Multipurpose Bridge project through bribery. The company’s Vice President Ramesh Shah and Engineer Mohammad Ismail are facing trial over the matter in Canada.
-With The Independent input
