Khaleda Zia has bank accounts on several names

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has identified former Bangladesh premier Khaled Zia having bank accounts on various names - Begum Khaleda Zia, Mrs Khaleda Zia, Khaleda Zia and Mrs Khaleda Rahman - using the same address House-6, Shaheed Moinul Road, Dhaka Cantonment.

Dhaka, Aug 31 : The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has identified former Bangladesh premier Khaled Zia having bank accounts on various names - Begum Khaleda Zia, Mrs Khaleda Zia, Khaleda Zia and Mrs Khaleda Rahman - using the same address House-6, Shaheed Moinul Road, Dhaka Cantonment.

The NBR has asked all banks to freeze the accounts of Khaleda Zia, her son Arafat Rahman Koko and nine others of her family.

Sources in the law enforcement agencies said the government is ready to file at least three graft cases against Khaleda and her family members.

Besides, the government is preparing a case over Khaleda's wealth statement, as it submitted to the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has some gross anomalies, the sources added.

Under the Income Tax Ordinance, 1984, the Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) of the NBR had earlier asked the banks to provide it with banking information about Khaleda and 10 of her family members.

Early this month, the NBR had frozen bank accounts of former premier Sheikh Hasina and her relatives. She was arrested in mid-June.

While the order to freeze Khaleda's account was delayed, she and her sons Tarique Rahman and Koko in July-August applied to the NBR to let them legalise their undisclosed money.

The nine other family members are Koko's wife Syeda Shamila Rahman and their daughters Zafira Rahman and Zahiya Rahman; Khaleda's nephew Saiful Islam and relatives Md Mozaffar Hossain, Rashida Begum, Rupa Shikdar, Md Abul Khaer and Faridun Fatema.

The notice asked all banks to freeze and provide information on individual or joint current or savings accounts, term deposits, loan accounts, foreign currency accounts, credit card, vault, locker and various types of savings instruments. The banks will also provide the NBR with transaction records.

In a similar fashion on August 2, the NBR had directed all commercial banks to freeze the accounts of Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina, her husband Dr M Wazed Miah, sister Sheikh Rehana, son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, daughter Saima Wazed Putul, and Rehana's husband Dr Shafiq Siddique.

But within a week, Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam told The Daily Star that if the family members badly needed money, the government may relax the NBR order.

This consideration came because Wazed Miah was critically ill and under treatment. Besides, Hasina's lawyers had expressed concern about continuing the operations of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, Bangabandhu Memorial Trust and Welfare Trust for Grenade Attack Victims since the accounts of those non-profit organisations were also frozen.

ANI