Update 03/19/10: Sajeeb Wazed Joy accused of running illegal VOIP operations by Opposition Chief Whip Zoinul Abedin Faroque MP. Cases filed against Faroque all over the country; arrest warrant issued against him. Government launches anti-VOIP drive against private telephone operators.
Update 12/21/09: Advisor Dr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury just muddied the waters, even further today, blatantly and categorically lying about his trip to the United States at the press conference.
Dr. Chowdhury said that he did not do anything except for participate in an expatriate (BDI) conference.
However, this press release from the Bangladeshi Embassy in Washington DC (page 15 of 18) shows that he came down to Washington DC the day after the conference closed, had meetings at the Department of Energy, and had lunch as the US Chamber of Commerce with, alongside others, officials from Chevron.
Original Post:
On 17th December, Amar Desh published a news report alleging that Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, took bribes from Chevron, the US power giant, with Advisor to the Prime Minister, Dr. Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury acting as the middleman. The report made these specific allegation:
1. This bribe was given in exchange for allowing Chevron to proceed with the installation of a $52 million compressor station. The installation of this compressor station was awarded to Chevron without inviting any tenders from competing bidders.
2. A $5 million bribe was taken from Chevron in exchange of this work-order.
3. Out of this amount, $2 milion was given to Sajeeb Wazed Joy by Dr. Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury on 14th October, 2009 at Texas.
4. The proposed compressor station is currently unnecessary.
5. The above allegation are made in a letter on Petobangla (state-run organization responsible for oil and gas exploration) stationery, which was sent to the Prime Minister’s office.
6. Subsequently, Petrobangla and the Ministry of Power, Energy, and Natural Resources exchanged letters about which organization should be the lead agency in investigating this matter.
The first thing to note about this report is that Amar Desh is not claiming to have found out this alleged corruption by themselves. Rather, they are claiming they have the copies of the specific documents that record these allegations and the subsequent exchange of letters between the two agencies (quiet understandable given the people involved). The allegations are extraordinarily detailed. They mention the project in which this alleged financial impropriety took place, the reason for the bribe, the amount of the bribe, and even the location where bribe was handed over. What is left unmentioned, but remains pertinent, is that Sheikh Hasina is the minister in charge of this ministry, and thus, bears direct responsibility for all activities and transactions in this ministry.
Now, had this been the end of the matter, the story would have died down in a couple of days. The editorial stance of Amar Desh is decidedly anti-government, and absent further developments, this story would have gone nowehere. However, this story was given further rleevance by the Awami League themselves.
At a discussion meeting held the day after this report was published, Awami League leaders roundly criticized this news report, and the newspaper publishing this report. The money quote would be from Jahangir Alam Nanak, Minister of State for Local Government and Rural Development, who addressed his comments directly to Mahmudur Rahman, the editor of Amar Desh: “Do not exceed the limits of our patience. If people get angry, you won’t be able to come out in public. You want to belittle Sajeeb Wazed Joy and rehabilitate Tareq Rahman? That will never happen.”
The over-the-top reaction from Awami League leaders was a fairly accurate representation of their tolerance of negative press. No one has the right to threaten a newspaper and its editor simply because a report containing an allegation of corruption is published. One suspects that with the negative news emanating from the Copenhagen where Prime Minister Sheikh Hasins is currently leading a high-profile delegation (although a final deal will definitely materialize), the stripping of Jatiyo Party MP Abul Kashem of his post by the High Court, the news about Jubo League men beating up two reporters in Bogra, the Supreme Court holding the appointment of the Law Secretary illegal, the fact that disqualified MP Jasimuddin is still drawing benefits from the Parliament Secretariat, and pressure mounting in the government to stop extra-judicial “crossfire” murders and bring RAB under accountability, the government and the ruling party was already buffeted by an extremely negative news cycle. Meanwhile, the opposition BNP appears rejuvenated after its successful council. The Amar Desh report was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back.
Today, Amar Desh published the rejoinder that the government sent in, and its own response to the rejoinder. The government rejoinder does not address the main allegations raised in the news report. As Amar Desh’s response correctly notes, the newspaper is not pulling these facts out of thin air. They claim to have copies of the documents that detail this allegation and the subsequent bureaucratic hissy-fit. The governemnt’s rejoinder ignores the initial complaint sent from Petrobangla, and whether the accusations made in that letter were true.
Assuming that these allegations are completely false, it should be an easy matter to disprove them. They can be rebutted point-by-point. One hopes that that is the path the government takes; rather than resorting to jingoistic threats against journalistic independence. This is also a good point to remind ourselves that we are all innocent until proven guilty, and those who are proved innocent can then, in turn, bring their own claims in a court of law. Also, such allegations are rather a rather common occurrence in democracies. Factual inquiries should be met by facts, and facts alone. Along that path lies democratic maturity.
December 19, 2009 at 8:01 am
[…] tacitaerno discusses this report in In the Middle of Nowhere… […]
December 19, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Amar Desh reporter Abdullah comes under attack
Staff Correspondent
Special correspondent of the daily Amar Desh, M Abdullah came under attack from some unknown assailants in the city’s Banani area on Saturday, two days after a report against the prime minister’s son and her energy adviser was published in the newspaper.
Rest of the report: http://www.newagebd.com/2009/dec/20/front.html
December 19, 2009 at 3:36 pm
M. Abdullah, the Amar Desh Special Correspondent who wrote the original report, comes under attack. His car is vandalized.
http://www.amadershomoy.com/content/2009/12/20/news0361.htm
December 19, 2009 at 3:57 pm
It would be nice to know the engineering aspect of the situation. Does or not, it needs a pumping system. If it does require from an engineering point of view, then bribing/no bribing gets fade away in buisness commision and Amardesh is making money via selling sensation like Protohom-Alo-Daily Star. But Prime Minister accepting kick back is still disgusting. If it did not require then wow! What a blatant disregard of any descency & honesty and kudos to Amardesh.
December 19, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Amar Desh’s response seems to make it pretty clear that the compressor station was not necessary. The pressure is already currently at 1050 PSI.
December 20, 2009 at 10:57 am
Since Awami League ministers issued threats heere are pictures of attack on Amardesh reporter. Police played drama whole day when Amardesh tried to file GD.
http://www.amardeshonline.com/pages/details/2009/12/20/10294
December 20, 2009 at 9:55 pm
#5 Tacit,
I think Amardesh/any-one needs to provide substantiate proof on money handling of Joy, other wise any one can make claim and play with public sentiment. Mahamdur Rahman just can not back out claiming it only published a PetroBangla inquiry. The news carries more then just an inquiry. News shades negative character to some one (who could be innocent till proven guilty) and a political fire.
December 21, 2009 at 7:59 pm
If they were just reporting on basis of the letter alone, I would agree with you. But this complaint has already been received by the government and passed around between Ministry of Energy and Petrobangla.
I think Amar Desh should have spoken to both Joy and Tawfiq Elahi before they ran the report. However, even without knowing the veracity of the actual complaint, it has already been established that the AL government gave Chevron a Tk. 350 crore project without any tender bidding.
December 23, 2009 at 9:41 am
So it did happen. Very sad & disgusting!
March 5, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Mr Mahmudur rahman is a great actor. We saw the news in electronic media he had been attacked by hammer and interestingly the hammer was new. No injury nothing happened to him. Besides his office kawranbazar has one of the largest hardware markets. If anyone else did it they wouldn’t use hammer rather arms. It proves that Mahmudur rahman is being used for political propaganda. i request them not to involbe in propaganda please wait untill next election. you will get chance to go power and Mahmudur rahman might be a energy minister rather energy advisor. its true in Bangladesh no political party can stay more than five years.
March 14, 2010 at 9:47 pm
I do believe that the newsmakers of Amardesh wrote the letter of complaint, submitted to the concern and the vested offices docketed the letter as usual of their job. In the meantime, the newsmaker collected the receipt copy of the letter and published in the paper.
I do also believe that this type of news will be coming against joy as long as he will be in political focus in Bangladesh
April 11, 2010 at 1:20 am
and AmarDesh made it possible for the government to award the compressor job to Chevron without a tender so that it can publish this news.. huh…. and Mr Toufiq lied to help the newspaper……
July 15, 2010 at 10:09 am
[…] under Awami League, Election Leave a Comment Mahmudur Rahman printed stories involving allegations of corruption about the Prime Minister’s family and her […]
July 19, 2010 at 10:37 pm
[…] Rahman printed stories involving allegations of corruption about the Prime Minister’s family and her […]
December 16, 2010 at 2:16 pm
These people of Mujib family are [redacted]Why Bangladeshi politics became a dynasty? [Deleted]
Admin: Please do not make blanket allegations based on hearsay. Please back up your accusations or opinions with facts, to the extent possible.
March 15, 2011 at 1:17 am
[…] As I read the e-mail, I mulled, is this not the same prime ministerial offspring against whom allegations of taking a $2 million bribe from Chevron surfaced recently? A deal reportedly brokered by Dr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, the prime minister’s energy advisor, a la, also, of WikiLeaks fame? (`People’s resistance to global capital and government collaboration is vindicated,’ WikiLeaks Bangladesh I, New Age, December 27, 2010). Did not the news item (December 17, 2010) later land the editor of Amar Desh in jail? At least, that’s the connection made by some. […]
March 15, 2011 at 11:40 pm
[…] is vindicated,’ WikiLeaks Bangladesh I, New Age, December 27, 2010). Did not the news item (December 17, 2010) later land the editor of Amar Desh in jail? At least, that’s the connection made by […]
November 19, 2011 at 10:37 pm
middleman…
[…]Corruption Allegations Surface Against Sajeeb Wazed Joy « In the Middle of Nowhere[…]…
February 5, 2013 at 7:03 pm
[…] critique of the current Awami League government. Much earlier than Khaleda Zia, Mahmudur Rahman pointed the finger at Hasina’s family. For this affrontery, they locked him up. A very lucid writer, he recounted his days in jail […]
January 29, 2014 at 12:48 am
Please prove it. It is easy to bring a fake allegation. People will not believe it.