Fire at the Bangladesh Secretariat was part of a deep-rooted conspiracy, said BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Saturday (December 28).
He alleged that the fire was deliberately set to destroy files, aiming to conceal corruption worth thousands of crores of takas by the previous authoritarian government.
Rizvi made the remarks on Saturday morning after visiting the grave of Sohanur Zaman Nayan, a firefighter who lost his life while on duty attempting to extinguish the Secretariat fire, at village Atpunia under Mithapukur upazila in Rangpur district.
Rizvi met the family members and relatives of Nayan at the firefighter's house. Then he made the remarks at a brief rally there.
The BNP leader said, "The fire has reduced files and furniture from four to five ministries to ashes. This is obviously part of a deep-rooted conspiracy. The principal secretary of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina had laundered huge amount of money. The files of his money laundering were there. The files destroyed in the fire included those related to his corruption. Many crucial documents were also lost in the fire."
Rizvi alleged that the authoritarian government of Sheikh Hasina embezzled public funds in ways that are beyond description. The US intelligence agencies are investigating the laundering of $350 million in the names of Sheikh Hasina's son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, and others. This is just one incident among many. To cover up such scandals, important files were burnt on the nine-storeyed building of the ministry."
The BNP Senior Joint Secretary General further said Hasina cohorts are still sitting at many important places of the country. They are conspiring constantly. On the other hand, great sons of the soil like Sohanur Zaman Nayan are sacrificing their lives to safeguard the country's independence and second liberation war.
It may be mentioned that the Fire Service received information of fire at the secretariat at 1:52am on Wednesday (December 25). The fire came under control at 8:05am on Thursday after constant efforts of 19 fire fighting units.
