The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has sought financial records of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her family members as well as documents related to eight mega projects following allegations of fund mismanagement and misuse amounting to Tk21,000 crore.
ACC Deputy Director Akhter Hossain told Dhaka Tribune on Tuesday that the commission formally escalated its efforts by seeking evidence from the Chief Advisor’s Office on eight development projects suspected of being fronts for financial misappropriation.
Among the accusations are fraudulent activities tied to major initiatives such as the Ashrayan Project, BEZA, and BEPZA.
Mirsharai Economic Zone, Khurushkul Special Ashrayan Project, BEPZA Economic Zone in Mirsharai, and the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Industrial City are also in the ACC’s targets.
Allegations of irregularities in water treatment facilities and an Indian Economic Zone within Mirsharai have also surfaced.
ACC sources revealed that every financial detail has been requested, from approved budgets and disbursements to expenditures and timelines.
If previous investigations exist, those too will be scrutinized.
On Sunday, Sheikh Hasina and her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy were implicated at the commission, in an alleged laundering of $300 million abroad, signalling an increasingly assertive stance against corruption at the highest levels of Bangladesh’s former government.
After August 5, the corruption clouds began to gather against ousted Sheikh Hasina, sparking revelations of an alleged $5 billion (Tk60,000 crore) embezzlement from the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project.
The funds, reportedly funnelled through Malaysian banks, involved her son Joy and niece Tulip Siddiq.
The High Court, acting on a writ petition filed by the chairman of the Nationalist Democratic Movement (NDM) Bobby Hajjaj, issued a rule questioning the ACC’s prolonged inaction in investigating the allegations.