The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has not found safe deposit lockers under the names of 25 officials, including former governor Abdur Rouf Talukder, following an operation.
ACC Director Kazi Sayemuzzaman disclosed the information after the search on Sunday.
Sayemuzzaman said: “We came to Bangladesh Bank based on allegations against the 25 individuals, but no lockers were found under their names."
"There are several other individuals under investigation. Based on court approval, further operations will be conducted by the ACC," he added.
The allegations against these 25 individuals were made by various officials of Bangladesh Bank, many of whom are still working at the central bank, while others are no longer employed there.
So far a total of 272 safe deposit lockers have been identified.
Earlier, at around 12:30pm, an eight-member team led by ACC Director Kazi Sayemuzzaman conducted the search at the Bangladesh Bank lockers.
The search was carried out with judicial authorization.
On January 26, the ACC found assets worth nearly Tk5 crore during a search of the locker of former deputy governor SK Sur, which is now under the bank’s custody.
During the operation, the ACC also discovered additional lockers registered under the names of Bangladesh Bank officials.
The ACC suspects that some of these lockers might belong to individuals currently under investigation for corruption.
As a result, the ACC decided to expand the search to include these lockers.
Subsequently, on February 2, the ACC sent a letter to the governor of Bangladesh Bank, requesting measures to ensure that no one could access the lockers in question.
Following this, the central bank's Motijheel office prohibited any further access to the lockers.
Bangladesh Bank spokesperson Arif Hossain Khan told the media that the ACC had brought a list of individuals, and after checking, no lockers were found under the names listed.
