DHAKA, 4 August 2007 — Bank accounts of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina Wajed and five members of her family have been frozen.
The country’s tax authority, the National Board of Revenue (NBR), issued the freeze order late on Thursday.
All commercial banks were asked to freeze accounts of the former premier and her five family members. Hasina’s husband M. Wajed Miah, sister Rehana, son Sajeeb Wajed Joy and daughter Saima Wajed Putul and her husband are on the freeze list. All have bank accounts in Bangladesh, tax officials said, but only Hasina and her husband live in the country.
The NBR also ordered bank accounts of former Foreign Minister M. Morshed Khan and former State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfuzzaman Babar — who both served in the government of immediate past Prime Minister Khaleda Zia — and 47 other people frozen, officials said.
Hasina has been detained since July 16 on charges of extortion and is being held inside a building that has been turned into a special jail within the Parliament compound.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau has asked Hasina and Khaleda to submit their wealth statements soon. Bangladesh has been under a state of emergency imposed by the army-backed interim administration, which took over in January and launched a crackdown on corruption ahead of elections planned for late next year.
More than 170 political figures, including former ministers in the governments of Hasina and Khaleda Zia, have been detained for graft and abuse of power.
The NBR has asked all banks to provide information about the accounts and transactions carried out by these people, official sources said in Dhaka yesterday. They will no longer be able to withdraw Fixed Deposit Receipt (FDR) or make transactions, sources said quoting the NBR order. Accounts of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, Bangabandhu Memorial Trust and Grenade Affected Welfare Trust of Hasina were also frozen.
The central bank has asked banks to provide account information of some 199 politicians and leaders by Aug. 8.
Meanwhile, the NBR at its board meeting discussed the issue of tax payment by Khaleda and former Finance Minister Saifur Rahman so that their undisclosed incomes could be legalized.
Khaleda has shown her sources of income as house rent, fixed deposit, salary and remuneration as prime minister and leader of the opposition during the last 15 years. NBR sources, however, said tax officials were scrutinizing her sources of income.
