Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has alleged that the BNP had earlier planned to kidnap and kill him in the United States.
Joy, also the premier’s ICT adviser, made the allegation in a post on his official Facebook page yesterday.
His comments came after a US court sentenced two persons including a BNP leader’s son on March 4, for their involvement in a bribery scheme to obtain confidential information from a former special agent of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in New York.
In his Facebook post, Joy said he provided a victim’s statement to the US court before sentencing of Rizve Ahmed Caesar, son of BNP’s cultural wing JaSaS Vice-President Mohammad Ullah Mamun.
“When someone tries to kill me I take it very personally. No matter how high up they may be in the BNP. I will bring them to justice,” Joy said in the Facebook post.
According to a statement from the US Justice Department, Rizve had sought confidential information about a Bangladeshi political figure who was affiliated with a political party opposing Caesar’s views.
Joy claimed that Caesar was promised $40,000 per month and had been given the first payment of $30,000 in cash directly from very senior BNP leaders in Bangladesh. “I cannot disclose their names because the investigation is ongoing.”
On March 7, addressing an Awami League rally in Suhrawardy Udyan, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had also criticised the BNP’s conspiracy to kidnap Joy in the US.
Meanwhile, Joy also criticised civil society members for remaining silent on the issue. “The BNP can kill and kidnap, yet they [civil society] will never blame the BNP directly. They always blame both parties. So what justification can they offer for the BNP trying to kill me here?”
Earlier at different programmes and also on his Facebook page, Joy criticised several civil society members for their present stance on urging the government to hold a dialogue with the BNP.