British newspaper The Sunday Times has found flyers of UK City Minister Tulip Siddiq, a box for a $1,500 gold-trimmed Montblanc pen and a certificate for a diamond in the ruins of the ransacked official residence of the ousted Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, reports The Business Standard.
Next to the box of the pen and diamond certificate was a crumpled piece of paper containing “a prominent UK barrister's legal advice about halting the publication of investigative journalism on the regime by an international media organisation,” reports the paper.
It said all these appeared next to an application to open an overseas bank account.
The Sunday Times also reported seeing diplomatic cables relating to the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The newspaper was granted access to Ganobhaban on Saturday (11 January).
On 5 August, the public stormed Hasina's official residence immediately after the news of her fleeing the country broke out, taking cash, furniture, freezers, sarees, jewellery and meat and fish.
Many items were returned following a public appeal and remain stored in an annexe next to the property.
The Sunday Times found a document mentioning gifts given by visiting politicians and businessmen and women to Hasina.
One was a scarf from Emmanuel Macron, the French president, who visited in 2021.
He had been accompanied by Jean Castex, the former prime minister of France, who brought a gold souvenir.
Another came from Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister at the time, who presented a China tea set.
Alok Sharma, the former foreign minister, who visited in 2021, is listed as having given a teacup on behalf of the United Kingdom.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
