Shawdesh desk:

The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit has frozen bank accounts of nearly 550 individuals and entities, holding around Tk 15,000 crore, over allegations of accumulating substantial assets through unethical means.

BFIU officials said that the anti-money laundering agency started to freeze their accounts after the fall of the Awami League government on August 5.

The frozen accounts belong to individuals including political leaders, businesspeople, and influential public figures tied to the Awami League-led government, they said.

The investigations focus on financial irregularities, including money laundering, loan fraud, and asset misappropriation.

Key figures include Sheikh Hasina’s family members such as her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, daughter Saima Wazed Putul, and nephew Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby.

Accounts linked to her cousins Abul Hasanat Abdullah, Sheikh Salahuddin Jewel, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, and Sheikh Helal Uddin, along with their respective family members have also been frozen.

The list extends to organisations like the Awami League’s research cell, the Centre for Research and Information, and its CRI-Young Bangla project.

Several former ministers, MPs, and advisers close to Sheikh Hasina are under investigation.

These include former Energy Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, Security Adviser Major General (retired) Tarique Ahmed Siddique, and NTMC’s former director general Major General (dismissed) Ziaul Ahsan. Accounts linked to former Bangladesh parliament speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury and her family are also affected.

Bankers said that given the scale and complexity of these allegations, the path toward effective accountability and recovery of misap propriated funds remained challenging.

Prominent ministers in the previous government, such as Obaidul Quader, AHM Mustafa Kamal, Mohammad Hasan Mahmud, Tipu Munshi, Asaduzzaman Khan, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, and Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed, as well as their family members and related companies, are included in the investigation.

The crackdown extends to major business conglomerates like S Alam, Beximco, Summit, Bashundhara, Orion and others.

The S Alam Group, led by Saiful Alam Masud and his associates, is a central focus.

Salman F Rahman of Beximco, along with his son and daughter-in-law, is also under investigation.

The list also included Summit Group’s Mohammad Aziz Khan, Muhammad Faruk Khan, and 11 members of their family; Bashundhara Group chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan and 8 of his family members; Orion Group’s Obaidul Karim and 6 members of his family; Diamond World’s Dilip Kumar Agarwala and his wife; Nabil Group managing director Aminul Islam and 6 of his family members; Nasa Group’s Nazrul Islam Mazumder and his wife; the late Zainul Haque Sikder’s family, comprising 14 members; and Chowdhury Nafiz Sarafat, his wife Anjuman Ara Sahid and their son Rahib Safwan Sarafat Chowdhury.

Figures from the banking and financial sector are also on the list, including Premier Bank chairman HBM Iqbal, NRBC Bank chairman SM Parvez Tamal, and former SBAC Bank chairman Abu Zafar Mohammad Shafi Uddin.

Former Union Bank MD Mokammel Haque Chowdhury and former BSEC chairman Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, along with eight of his family members, are being investigated.

The BFIU has sought assistance from foreign authorities by sending letters requesting information on money laundering activities involving six major business groups.

So far, the BFIU is investigating allegations of money laundering, loan fraud, and embezzlement of government funds against 20 business groups.

Reports on entities like the S Alam Group and Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed’s family have already been submitted to the Criminal Investigation Department and Anti-Corruption Commission for legal action.

Investigations are also going on regarding 18 other business groups, including Beximco, Summit, Bashundhara, Orion, Sikder, Nasa, and Nabil.

In addition, 110 incidents involving 343 individuals and 200 organizations are under investigation.