Bangladesh’s army-backed interim government, hunting illegal money belonging to corrupt politicians, has found millions of dollars in frozen bank accounts, officials said on Tuesday. “We made headway in the drive against black money holders as part of an ongoing anti-corruption campaign. So far the authorities have frozen 53 bank accounts belonging mostly to politicians,” said an official of the National Board of Revenue. “These accounts have an estimated undisclosed sum of 26 billion taka ($377 million),” the official told Reuters, but asked not to be identified. He said more accounts of political figures, some of whom have been detained, were being investigated as part of a crackdown on tax dodgers and holders of undeclared money. Bangladesh has been under a state of emergency since Jan 11 and security forces have arrested more than 160 senior politicians. Past elections were rigged, heavily influenced by illegal money used to buy votes and membership of main political parties, including Khaleda’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Awami League led by her rival Sheiklh Hasina, also a former premier.
The NBR has asked banks to freeze suspicious accounts at home while detectives investigated accounts of Bangladeshi politicians and businessmen abroad, government officials said. They said many politicians were suspected of transferring large sums to foreign banks since the interim government took charge in October, when Khaleda ended her five-year term.