Hasina calls Khaleda mad in parliament over Padma Bridge remarks

Following Khaleda Zia’s remarks that the construction of the Padma Bridge is nothing but a patchwork, Sheikh Hasina has once again questioned her intelligence, but this time in the parliament.

Last week at an event of the student wing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, the BNP chief compared the construction of the ‘dream bridge’ with ‘patchwork’. She had advised everyone not to use it as it would be ‘fragile’ if the Awami League government completed it.

“Yes, it’s true in one sense, as every single part of the bridge is made at a time. She, who has no knowledge about how a thing is built, has no brains,” the prime minister had retorted a day later in reaction to Khaleda’s comments. 

During parliament proceedings Wednesday, Hasina said: “Such comments should not be paid heed to because a person with a sound mind cannot say such things.

Khaleda Zia

“After all, there is a Bangla proverb that (if roughly translated into English) a mad person can say anything and everything while a goat can eat anything and everything,” she said in response to a question of Fazilatun Nasa Bappy MP during the question-answer session.

The construction of Bangladesh's largest infrastructure started in December 2015 at an estimated cost of around Tk 300 billion.

Bangladesh is building the six-kilometre bridge over the Padma River after leaving the World Bank out of the project following complexities over corruption allegations.

PM provides details of Khaleda’s assets abroad

The BNP chief has $750 million in Belgium, $250 million in Malaysia and owns houses 'worth millions of dollars' in Dubai and shopping malls in Saudi Arabia, Hasina told MPs.

“Khaleda appears to be in the third position in the list of corrupt people, according to reports published by different global media outlets. She never protested those reports,” the prime minister said in reply to an MP’s query.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir had brushed off the claims Hasina made at a press briefing earlier. No such report was found, he had said.

The BNP had served a legal notice on the prime minister, according to Fakhrul. The government is yet to confirm receipt of the notice.

A response will be given once the notice reaches the prime minister, Law Minister Anisul Huq had said.

Bappy, an mp from the seats reserved for women, asked Hasina what measures the government would take on the 'illegal assets' of Khaleda abroad.

“Khaleda Zia’s sons have amassed wealth in different countries.

“We will not let them loot the people's money and smuggle them abroad. Investigations will be led into these crimes and perpetrators will be brought to justice,” Hasina said.

Different government agencies have previously retracted around $2.04 million that Khaleda’s youngest son late Arafat Rahman Coco had laundered, she said.

“Tarique Rahman and his business partner Gias Uddin Al Mamun smuggled around Tk 210 million to Singapore’s Citibank NA that they had got by giving contract to a foreign company,” she added.

“The FBI is probing the matter. The High Court has sentenced Tarique to seven years in jail. Around Tk 60 million has been found at London’s NatWest Bank.”

The BNP chairperson's son Tarique Rahman has been living in London since 2008.

On being asked by the Jatiya Party MP Kazi Firoz Rashid, Hasina said: “We have provided all the information related to money laundering that we found on different occasions.

We have posted whatever we have got on the internet and social media.