Fabricated by Yunus regime: Former B'desh PM Hasina's son rejects corruption cases against him, family

Dhaka, Aug 13 (IANS) As a Bangladesh court is set to record the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses in a corruption case against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her family on Wednesday, her son Sajeeb Wazed came down heavily on the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government for orchestrating "fabricated" cases against them.

The remarks came after a Bangladeshi court on July 31 brought charges against Hasina, her son Wazed, daughter Saima Wazed Putul, and several others in connection with the Anti-Corruption Commission's (ACC's) six cases over alleged corruption under the Purbachal New Town project.

The court also issued arrest warrants against them and fixed Wednesday to record the testimonies of prosecution witnesses.

Wazed, Former Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Advisor to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, asserted that no illegality was involved in the entire process in the acquisition of the Purbachal plots.

He stated that every step during the process -- from the application to allotment and payment -- "followed the letter of the law."

"This is simply a futile attempt by the Yunus Regime to sully the name of my family, spearheaded by a politically compromised Anti Corruption Commission, and overseen by a compliant judiciary too intimidated to pursue the truth," Wazed said in a post on X.

He said that the plots had to be purchased from the government as per the official rates and questioned, "Then, why these 'cases'? Because under the Yunus dictatorship, the ACC has been turned into a full-time tool for harassing and defaming my family members with baseless allegations."

Slamming the ACC Chairman Abdul Momen, Wazed said the previous Awami League Government sacked Momen over corruption allegations, adding that his only apparent qualification for the post of ACC chief is his background as a pro-Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) bureaucrat who once served as the private secretary of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia.

The former advisor, therefore, expressed little expectation of fairness and justice from the ACC.

He said that these so-called cases should have been thrown out by the Bangladeshi courts at first instance.

Wazed alleged that "given the Yunus regime's strict control over the judiciary, naked political interference of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami lawyers over judicial matters, public prosecutors who act and talk like BNP-Jamaat leaders, and the constant fear of mob violence, the courts are now not only entertaining such baseless allegations, but issuing arrest warrants at whims, arbitrarily ordering freezing of our properties, and taking these baseless, unmeritorious cases to the trial stage."

He also claimed that no legal protection was given to him or his family members while being tried in the court and said that "under the Yunus regime, there simply cannot be any trust on the judiciary's ability to discharge justice neutrally."

Raising concerns, he said that several leaders, supporters and associates of the Awami League are being arrested in "wholesale false criminal cases" and have been put in jail for months.

He also mentioned that the arrested individuals don't get bail, and even if someone manages to secure bail, they are then shown arrested in more cases to further prolong pre-trial detention.

Additionally, he also said that there is not even the "semblance of due process," where lawyers and defendants are not assaulted in courts without facing any action for it.

--IANS

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