Russia has issued a clarification to counter misleading claims about alleged embezzlement in the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project, detailing the utilisation of export credits and the financial management of the project.
"It has come to our attention that misleading and false information regarding alleged embezzlement in the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) project continues to circulate in the Bangladeshi media, despite two previous press releases issued by Rosatom State Corporation refuting these unfounded statements. To halt further baseless speculations on this matter, it is necessary to elucidate the mechanism of Russian export credit utilisation and the amount already expended on the construction of the Rooppur NPP," said a press release by the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Bangladesh on Wednesday (11 September).
"As of September 3, 2024, approximately 7.8 billion USD out of the 11.9 billion USD provided by Russia to Bangladesh under state export credits for the Rooppur NPP project has been utilised. This sum encompasses transactions under two separate agreements: 491.3 million USD under the first agreement dated January 15, 2013 (this credit, amounting to 500 million USD, expired in 2017), and 7.3 billion USD under the second agreement dated July 26, 2016. The total amount of the second export credit is 11.38 billion USD, of which 64% has been utilised, with the credit's utilisation period ending on December 31, 2024," it added.
The absence of any possibility of corruption in the Rooppur NPP project is evidenced by the fact that, under Russian Federation laws, the provision of state export credits does not involve direct transfer of funds to the sovereign borrower.
Instead, financing for goods, works, or services provided to a foreign customer under the export agreement is conducted by the Russian Ministry of Finance in Russian currency (rubles) directly to the relevant Russian exporting companies.
These transactions are executed based on documents provided to the Russian Ministry of Finance and previously approved by the authorised agent specialising in international agreements – VEB.RF (Vnesheconombank). The utilised amounts of state export credits are classified as debt of the foreign state borrower to the Russian Federation.
In summary, it is believed that those disseminating and perpetuating false claims of embezzlement regarding the Rooppur NPP project are deliberately attempting to discredit this ambitious endeavour and undermine the stable, mutually beneficial relations between Moscow and Dhaka.
