Why is government not talking about suspected transactions of $300m involving Joy: Fakhrul

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has asked why the government is not talking about the “suspected transactions,” mentioned in the US documents, though law enforcers have arrested Shafik Rehman on the basis of the same US court documents, which purportedly suggested the latter’s involvement in the abduction conspiracy.

“Why is the government not uttering a single word about the suspected transactions of $300 million, equivalent to Tk 25 billion, involving ‘individual one’ i.e. Sajeeb Wazed Joy, mentioned in the documents submitted by the US government to a US court?” he asked at a press conference in Dhaka on Saturday.

“Why is no trial taking place over the plundering of thousands of millions of taka from the capital market and banks?” he questioned.

The BNP leader said the people had the right to know if there was any link between the ‘plundered money’ and the transaction of $300 million.

“The people want a neutral and effective probe into the matter. They want to know about the sources of the money and its owner,” he said.

He hoped the government would come up with a ‘satisfactory explanation’ soon.

Mirza Fakhrul termed the charges against Rehman -- of plotting to abduct Joy -- ‘imaginary and baseless’.

Police arrested magazine editor Rehman in a case filed over the plot to abduct and kill Joy in the US, where a BNP leader’s son is serving a sentence for bribing an FBI agent through a US national to obtain information on Joy. The FBI agent and the middleman are also in jail.

Daily Amar Desh acting editor Mahmudur Rahman, who is already in jail in violence-related cases, has also been shown arrested in the case.

Mirza Fakhrul claimed neither Rehman nor Mahmudur was named in the US investigation report, or statements of the convicts or witnesses.

The names of Rehman and Mahmudur, both close to BNP, did not come up in the case filed in Dhaka either, the BNP leader said.

He said Rehman’s arrest was based only on Joy’s claim made in a Facebook post.

He also condemned the grilling of 81-year-old Rehman in police custody.

“BNP doesn’t believe in politics of abduction and killing,” Mirza Fakhrul said, alleging that thousands of leaders and activists of his party were abducted and murdered during Awami League regimes.