The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) and the National Board of Revenue (NBR) have frozen bank accounts and sought the wealth information of several former lawmakers of the Awami League and officials.
Of them, the bank accounts of former Narayanganj-4 MP Shamim Osman and former state minister of power Nasrul Hamid, and their family members, were frozen by the BFIU on Tuesday.
Under the freeze are the accounts of Shamim's wife Lipi Begum, brother Salim Osman, his wife and their children. Nasrul Hamid's wife and children's accounts were also frozen.
The accounts of former DMP joint commissioner Biplop Kumar Sarker and his wife were also frozen.
On the other hand, the NBR has asked banks to provide account details for Awami League Presidium Member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim and his family members.
The tax zone-15 of the NBR issued a letter to banks and financial institutions in this regard on Monday.
In the letter, the NBR asked the banks and financial institutions to provide information on bank accounts and credit cards as soon as possible under the Income Tax Law-2023 of 200 sections.
Details of the bank accounts of Sheikh Selim, his father, mother, sons and daughters were sought in the letter.
Additionally, the ACC has started a public inquiry into the corruption of former PM Sheikh Hasina's office staff Jahangir Alam, ACC Deputy Director and Public Relations Officer Aktarul Islam said on Tuesday.
At a press conference during her tenure, Sheikh Hasina herself expressed frustration at the spree of corruption, saying that Jahangir owned Tk400 crore and could not move without a helicopter.
At the same time, the ACC will start an inquiry into various allegations, including gold smuggling, against Sheikh Hasina's former deputy press secretary Ashraful Alam Khokan. The commission took the decision in a meeting held at its head office in Dhaka on Tuesday.
According to ACC officials, Khokan was appointed the PM's deputy press secretary on August 18, 2013 and was allegedly involved in various irregularities and corruption, including receiving financial benefits from various business organizations such as Max Group and Nagad, smuggling gold and currencies, and illegally conducting VoIP business.
The anti-graft body has also filed a case against Sudhangshu Shekhar Bhadra, the former director general of the Postal Department, on charges of misappropriating over Tk15 crore in funds allocated for the purchase of servers and UPS units under a government project. The case, lodged by ACC's Assistant Director Abul Kalam Azad, was registered at the commission's integrated district office in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the central bank has frozen the bank accounts of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission's former chairman Professor Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam, his son Juhair Sharar Islam, stock market investor Abul Khair Hiru and five others.
The freeze will last for 30 days in accordance with the Money Laundering Prevention Act, said a high-ranking official of the BFIU. The others are Sayadur Rahman, Monija Chowdhury, Mohammad Delowar Hossain and Javed A Matin.
The BFIU has also ordered to freeze the bank accounts of Sheikh Helal Uddin, a former member of parliament and cousin of Sheikh Hasina, along with those of his son Sheikh Tonmoy also a former member of parliament.
Additionally, the BFIU has frozen the bank transactions of businesses owned by them.
The BFIU issued the instructions to banks and financial institutions across the country on Monday.
The unit has also frozen the bank accounts of former education minister Mohibul Hassan Chowdhury Nowfel and his family. A letter regarding this was sent to all banks across Bangladesh on Monday.
In addition to Mohibul, the accounts of his wife and children have also been frozen.
The banks have been instructed to submit all related information, including account opening forms and transaction details, to the BFIU within the next five days.
Our reporter Mamun Abdullah contributed to this report.