Khaleda asks Hasina to get Joy questioned over so-called $300 million in his account

Khaleda Zia has asked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to have her son Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy questioned in custody over his ‘$300 million stashed away in banks’.

The BNP chief made the demand while protesting against the arrest of editor Shafik Rehman at a May Day rally organised by the party’s workers affiliate Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal on Sunday.

Rehman, who is close to the BNP, was arrested in a case filed over a plot to abduct and kill Joy in the US.

Referring to the US case, Khaleda on Saturday said, “The case files say there is $300 million, which is equal to Tk 25 billion, in an account of the prime minister’s son.”

“Where did this money come from? What is the source of this money?” she asked.

On Sunday, she pointed her finger at a poster that was hung to demand Rehman’s release.

“Shafik Rehman is not in politics. Why has he been arrested from his house? What was his fault?”

“His fault was that prime minister’s son...what’s his name?” The BNP leaders and workers replied, “Thief, thief!”

“The court had its suspicion over $300 million or Tk 25 billion in his (Joy’s) account. The FBI found the money in investigation,” Khaleda claimed.

“What is Shafik Rehman’s fault here? Now a drama is being staged by arresting him,” she added.

Khaleda demanded release of Rehman and daily Amar Desh acting editor Mahmudur Rahman, who is also arrested in the case over the plot.

Addressing Hasina, the BNP chief said, “If you do not release them, if you are the true prime minister of the people, then your son Joy needs o be questioned in custody about where he got this $300 million or Tk 25 billion.”  

“Is this money legal?” she asked.

Khaleda also warned the ruling Awami League against ‘hushing up the matter’.

In reaction to the comments Khaleda made on Saturday, Joy asked her to show him where the money is.

“A woman who has stolen money from orphans, one whose son is a fugitive accused by the FBI for corruption, really should not be throwing mud at Bangabandhu’s grandson,” he wrote on his Facebook wall.