Latest news with #Russian-funded
Shafaq News
25-04-2025
- Business
- Shafaq News
Russia to fund new Iranian nuclear plant
Shafaq News/ Iran and Russia have agreed to build a new nuclear power plant in Iran with financing from a Russian-funded credit line, Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad announced Friday after the 18th Joint Economic Cooperation Commission in Moscow. Paknejad said the project will include completing the second and third phases of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, emphasizing that Iran and Russia will continue cooperating on the peaceful use of nuclear energy. On trade, Russian Energy Minister Sergey Tsivilyov said bilateral trade rose 16.2% in 2024 to $4.8 billion. He added that both governments believe there is room for significantly higher trade volumes. Paknejad echoed that view, saying the full implementation of existing agreements could push trade from around $4 billion to $6 billion. Tsivilyov also announced that Tehran will host the commission's 19th session. The figures mark a recovery in trade ties after a decline in 2023. The two sides signed agreements to expand cooperation in the upstream oil and gas sectors, including field development and technology sharing. Paknejad said Tehran and Moscow are finalizing memoranda of understanding with Russian energy giant Gazprom, aiming to start by importing Russian gas into Iran. 'Only a few technical details remain before finalizing import volumes, with future plans for gas swaps and transits to other countries.' Paknejad added that Iran and Russia are also deepening their economic and strategic cooperation through regional organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS, and OPEC+. The announcement follows Russia's ratification of a 20-year strategic partnership agreement with Iran, signed by Presidents Vladimir Putin and Masoud Pezeshkian in January. The pact outlines long-term collaboration in sectors including defense, energy, agriculture, finance, and technology.
Daily Tribune
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Daily Tribune
Bangladesh Court Issues Arrest Warrant for UK MP Tulip Siddiq in Corruption Case
A court in Bangladesh has approved an arrest warrant for British lawmaker and former UK anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq, over corruption allegations tied to her aunt, ousted former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The warrant, approved Monday, follows Siddiq's resignation from the UK government in January amid growing scrutiny over her alleged involvement in land grabbing and embezzlement investigations led by Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). 'The accused were absent, and that's why the court approved the arrest warrant,' public prosecutor Mir Ahmed Ali Salam told AFP. Siddiq, a sitting Member of Parliament for the UK's Labour Party, is a niece of Hasina, who fled Bangladesh in August 2024 following widespread student-led protests that forced her out of office. Hasina is now in India, where the Bangladeshi government has repeatedly requested her extradition. According to the ACC, Siddiq and several family members are suspected of acquiring lucrative land in a Dhaka suburb through improper means. In addition, they are reportedly under investigation for alleged embezzlement of $5 billion tied to a Russian-funded nuclear power plant project. Despite the escalating legal drama, Siddiq's legal team maintains her innocence. 'Ms Siddiq knows nothing about a hearing in Dhaka relating to her and she has no knowledge of any arrest warrant that is said to have been issued,' said Stephenson Harwood LLP, the law firm representing her, in a statement. 'The ACC has not responded to Ms Siddiq or put any allegations to her directly or through her lawyers.' However, Bangladeshi authorities argue that official communication was unnecessary, pointing to extensive media coverage as sufficient notice. While the court has greenlit the warrant, it is expected to be formally signed on Tuesday, a senior ACC official said under condition of anonymity. This latest development deepens the political and legal quagmire surrounding the Hasina family, and marks a rare case of a foreign sitting MP facing criminal proceedings tied to a government scandal abroad.
Telegraph
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Tulip Siddiq silent as UN report finds aunt's regime killed children
Tulip Siddiq has remained silent after a UN report found her aunt's regime killed and tortured children during protests in Bangladesh in 2024. Sheikh Hasina fled Bangladesh in August 2024 after anti-government protesters stormed the prime minister's palace and the parliament, following weeks of demonstrations. Ms Siddiq was forced to resign as City minister in January following weeks of controversy over her ties to the Awami League led by her aunt Sheikh Hasina, the former prime minister of Bangladesh. A UN report published on Wednesday found Sheikh Hasina's regime subjected children to 'targeted killings' during the protests which took place from July 1 until mid-August. It discovered that police and security forces also subjected children to 'deliberate maiming, arbitrary arrest, detention in inhumane conditions, torture and other forms of ill-treatment' over that time. From mid-July, the former government of Bangladesh and the Awami League mobilised 'a continuously expanding circle of armed actors' who 'violently suppressed peaceful student protests with unnecessary and disproportionate force'. Between 12 and 13 per cent of those killed during the protests were children, while women and girls were also attacked by security forces and Awami League supporters, the report found. It found that as many as 1,400 people could have been killed during the protests, with most 'by military rifles and shotguns loaded with lethal metal pellets commonly used by Bangladesh's security forces'. More than 11,700 people were arrested and detained overall, according to information provided to the UN. Ms Siddiq has declined to comment on the report. A spokesman said that it had nothing to do with her or the Labour Party, and emphasised that she is a British citizen. Ms Siddiq, who is being investigated by Bangladesh's anti-corruption commission, has used several London properties linked to the Awami League. As well as renting out a King's Cross apartment, she also lived in a flat that was gifted to her sister by a lawyer linked to the Awami League. She was also renting a £2.1 million house in East Finchley, north London, owned by an executive member of the UK wing of the Bangladeshi party. The Labour MP, a friend of the Prime Minister, was forced to resign from the front bench after Sir Keir Starmer's ethics adviser found that she had inadvertently misled the public over the scandal. Ms Siddiq, whose brief as Treasury minister had included combating corruption, had referred herself after weeks of questions over her use of properties in London linked to her aunt's political party. Bangladesh's anti-corruption commission is investigating Ms Siddiq, Hasina and other members of their family for alleged embezzlement of £3.9 billion connected to a Russian-funded nuclear power plant.
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tulip Siddiq's £700k London flat part of £3.9bn money-laundering investigation
A £700,000 London flat owned by Tulip Siddiq is being investigated as part of a money-laundering probe. Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is examining whether the former City minister bought the London property using funds linked to one of the country's largest infrastructure projects. Ms Siddiq, her aunt Sheikh Hasina, the former Bangladeshi prime minister, and other family members are being investigated over the alleged embezzlement of £3.9 billion connected to a Russian-funded nuclear power plant. Ms Siddiq was forced to resign from the front bench last month after Sir Laurie Magnus, the UK Prime Minister's ethics adviser, found that she had inadvertently misled the public over the scandal. The MP, whose brief as Treasury minister had included combating corruption, had referred herself after weeks of questions over her use of properties in London linked to her aunt's political party. Hasina, 77, the longest-serving prime minister of Bangladesh, is now in India, having been ousted last August after violent protests. During her tenure, opponents were attacked, arrested and secretly imprisoned as the regime carried out extrajudicial killings. The former prime minister and her allies are also accused of looting billions from the country. Bangladesh's ACC is investigating Ms Siddiq, Hasina and other members of their family for alleged embezzlement of £3.9 billion connected to a Russian-funded nuclear power plant. In an update on its investigation, the ACC said that it had received allegations that Ms Siddiq had received a £700,000 luxury flat in London, allegedly purchased with misappropriated funds from Bangladesh's $12.65 billion (£10.1 billion) Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant. Investigators claimed illicit funds had been funnelled through offshore bank accounts in Malaysia before being used to acquire high-value properties for members of Hasina's inner circle. 'After our secret investigations confirmed these allegations, we decided to conduct a public inquiry into it,' a top official at the ACC told The Telegraph. 'She [Ms Siddiq] has been implicated in allegations of corruption and financial misconduct. We received complaints that she was involved in money laundering and illicit financial transactions linked to her family members in Bangladesh,' the official said. 'Her name has surfaced in investigations concerning offshore bank accounts and property dealings suspected of being funded through illegal means,' he said. The ACC said that Ms Siddiq had received a £700,000 flat, while other family members received a £650,000 flat and a £1.58 million property in north London. Investigators claimed these transactions had been facilitated through international money-laundering operations, and authorities are now scrutinising their financial origins. It is unclear whether the properties in question are the same as those examined by Sir Keir Starmer's ethics adviser. However, Labour sources said a flat, gifted to Ms Siddiq by a businessman linked to her aunt and now worth £700,000, had been transferred to her in 2004 so could not be linked to the nuclear deal, signed in 2013. A source close to Ms Siddiq said 'the timeline does not add up' and that Ms Siddiq had no overseas property or bank accounts. Sir Laurie has also said he found 'no suggestion of any unusual financial arrangements' involving the Awami League party or the state of Bangladesh. The inquiry into Ms Siddiq is part of a wider corruption probe involving Hasina and her family. The ACC has reported financial irregularities amounting to £4 billion within the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project, which is being constructed with Russian assistance. Investigators have accused Hasina, her son, Sajeeb Ahmed Wazed Joy, and other close relations, including Ms Siddiq, of benefiting from misappropriated public funds. In 2013, she posed for a photograph with Hasina alongside Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, at a meeting in Moscow. The meeting saw Putin agree to bankroll the £10 billion Rooppur nuclear plant on the bank of the river Padma, about 100 miles north west of Dhaka. The ACC alleges Ms Siddiq brokered the deal and helped her family embezzle some £3.9 billion pounds from the project. The ACC has also launched multiple corruption investigations into other major infrastructure projects in Bangladesh, allegedly used to divert billions of dollars into offshore accounts. A spokesman for Ms Siddiq said: 'Absolutely no evidence has been presented for these allegations. Tulip Siddiq has not been contacted on these matters and totally denies the claims.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
