Khaleda Zia has sent a legal notice to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina demanding an apology for her remarks on the BNP chairperson’s alleged assets in foreign countries.
The legal notice was sent by post on Tuesday by Khaleda’s lawyer Mahbubuddin Khokon, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The notice demands an unconditional apology that can be issued to the media within 30 days.
Compensation will be sought through legal means if no apology is issued, according to the notice.
Some media outlets published a report claiming that an anti-graft investigation in Saudi Arabia has revealed that Khaleda and members of her family have assets in the kingdom.
In these stories, the media outlets cited reports by ‘Global Intelligence Network’ and ‘Canadian TV channel The National or GIN’, but no media with these names have been found on the internet.
On Dec 7, Hasina spoke on the matter in response to a question from a journalist at the Ganabhaban.
The prime minister expressed her anger that only two newspapers and two television channels had published the report, according to bdnews24.
On the limited media coverage of the allegations against Khaleda, Hasina said: “I haven’t noticed any eagerness to publish this news.”
She speculated that the media may have covered up the story due to financial interests.
The next day Mirza Fakhrul responded to Hasina’s comments, saying that she would have to apologise for the ‘baseless defamation’. He also threatened to take legal action.