UK public relations firm accused of smearing Mansur now works for Awami League

A British public relations firm flagged by lawmakers in London for allegedly spreading disinformation about Bangladesh’s central bank governor has in recent weeks begun representing the Awami League.

Palatine Media came under scrutiny in March after it distributed blog posts, written under false bylines, to members of the UK Parliament, accusing Ahsan Mansur, the governor of Bangladesh Bank, of having links to “unexplained” wealth said to belong to his daughter.

Timed to coincide with Mansur’s scheduled meetings with British lawmakers, the incident fuelled concerns that the firm was attempting to smear him.

The UK’s powerful all-party parliamentary group on responsible tax and corruption subsequently referred the matter to separate parliamentary bodies for disinformation review, The Guardian reported.

At the time, Palatine refused to identify who had commissioned the campaign. But copies of correspondence obtained by Netra News show that in recent weeks the firm has acted directly on behalf of the Awami League, many of whose financiers have found themselves in Mansur’s crosshairs.

In an email exchange with a UK-based news organisation, Palatine’s founder, Conal Walsh, provided responses to questions about the party.

“Please take the below as a collective response from the various parties you’ve approached in the Awami League,” Walsh wrote, adding that he also spoke on behalf of “Sheikh Hasina and her immediate circle and family members.”

Parts of the remarks were later included in coverage.

In a recent statement to Netra News, Walsh acknowledged that Palatine now represents the Awami League but insisted the firm did not do so when it circulated the blog posts critical of Mansur. “We were not at that point acting as the Awami League’s media spokesperson,” he said.

Interests converged

Some of the same anti-Mansur posts were shared online by senior Awami League figures, including its president Sheikh Hasina’s son and top adviser, Sajeeb Wazed.

Mansur, a former senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) official, has been leading efforts to recover stolen funds believed to have been moved abroad, including into Britain.

Why the Awami League would target a central banker — not a typical political target — remains unclear. Analysts suggest that wealthy businessmen close to the party may have seen their interests aligned with efforts to discredit Mansur’s push to recover assets.

“Though no more than a smear campaign, the intent is to tarnish the credibility of the process by unsubstantiated and motivated allegations,” said Iftekharuzzaman, who leads the Bangladesh chapter of Transparency International, the anti-corruption watchdog. “The possibility of this PR firm being in collusion with the syndicates of enablers of money laundering cannot be ruled out.”

Palatine would not clarify if its partnership with the Awami League and its earlier anti-Mansur activity were related. But there are areas of overlap.

In its earlier emails to British MPs, Palatine also defended Tulip Siddiq, a Labour MP and niece of the party’s president Sheikh Hasina, writing that Mansur was prepared to “impugn the integrity of Tulip Siddiq.”

Siddiq, who once informally styled herself as the Awami League’s international lobbyist, is facing a string of corruption charges in Bangladesh — allegations she denies but which prompted her resignation from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government.

Palatine says it has never had contact with Siddiq, let alone work for her. It nonetheless refuses to identify who is financing its work for the Awami League or who paid for the anti-Mansur campaign. “Like any advisory business, we don’t discuss contractual issues, for reasons of commercial and client confidentiality,” the firm said.

Such confidentiality appears to conflict with the code of conduct of the UK Chartered Institute of Public Relations, which asks firms like Palatine to disclose “the interests on whose behalf they lobby, as well as disclosing their clients.”

Palatine counters that it is not “a lobbyist,” though Parliament defines lobbying broadly, including the act of “sending letters and emails,” precisely the activities Palatine has undertaken.

The firm’s opaque business practices are enabled by the UK’s loophole-ridden regulations, says Alex Beatty, an adviser to Spotlight on Corruption, one of Britain’s leading transparency groups.

“There are no regulations in the UK that lay out how PR firms should behave when they engage in reputation management and it is entirely optional for firms to sign up to codes of conduct,” he said.

Palatine’s work on Bangladesh-related matters, he argues, “raises real questions about how political organisations could engage top UK PR firms with little oversight.”

Other lobbying push

The Awami League’s legal and lobbying offensive goes beyond Palatine.

Across the Atlantic in Washington, D.C., Sajeeb Wazed moved quickly, a month after his mother’s downfall, to hire a lobbying firm with close ties to President Donald Trump, paying $200,000 upfront.

At Doughty Street Chambers, one of Britain’s leading human rights firms, barristers Steven Powles KC and Alex Tinsley have filed petitions to United Nations bodies, claiming Bangladeshi authorities had effectively banned the party.

Dhaka counters that it has only suspended the Awami League’s activities while top leaders face trials for crimes against humanity — allegations also echoed by the UN’s human rights chief.

Earlier, the same lawyers referred the interim government to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for those very crimes, the ones the Awami League itself stands accused of committing.

Netra News asked the firm to clarify who is funding its Bangladesh work. A separate Awami League spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.●