The Anti-Corruption Commission has launched an inquiry into the allegations of wasting public money by ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina during her foreign trips and for acquiring ‘fake’ honorary doctorate degrees during the ousted Awami League regime.
The ACC took the decision on Thursday at a meeting of the commission at its headquarters in the capital’s Segunbagicha, said ACC spokesperson director general (prevention) Md Aktar Hossain.
According to the allegations, Hasina, during her tenure as a prime minister, used state funds to charter flights from Biman Bangladesh Airlines for her foreign trips, each accompanied by a huge number of entourages.
She was reportedly part of numerous high-profile delegations, including annual United Nations sessions in New York, which she attended as the head of the government for 16 consecutive years, said the allegations.
It also stated that, in 2015, she led a 227-member delegation to the 70th General Assembly and the UN’s Sustainable Development Summit, and, in 2014, she was accompanied by 178 people, and in 2013, a total of 134 people travelled with her.
The allegation further claimed that, during her tenure as a prime minister, Sheikh Hasina used advanced Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft from the state-run airline.
From 2019 to mid-2024, the national carrier reportedly spent around Tk 250 crore to conduct 48 VIP flights for her, and she herself spent an estimated Tk 200 crore during these trips, it said.
One of the examples was her flight on September 18, 2021, when she left for New York on a VIP flight, BG-1902, from Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport. It was found that, instead of travelling directly from Dhaka to New York, the flight made a stopover in Finland, where the stopover and the related expenses, including two days of landing charges for her entourage, amounted to around Tk 7 crore.
Till 2023, the government owed Tk 50 core to Biman Bangladesh Airlines for these flights, according to the allegations.
Besides foreign trips, the allegations include Sheikh Hasina’s acquiring several ‘fake’ honorary doctorate degrees from different foreign universities by spending a significant amount of public funds on lobbying.Â
Among the universities alleged to have conferred these degrees are India’s Tripura University, Belgium’s Catholic University of Brussels, and India’s Visva-Bharati University.