Bangladesh court orders 124 bank accounts frozen belonging to former Premier Hasina, family

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - A court in Dhaka ordered Bangladesh’s anti-corruption agency on Tuesday to freeze 124 bank accounts of deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her family members on corruption charges.

The court, in response to an appeal of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), ordered the agency to freeze the accounts and organizations linked to the family in the country. Judge Md Zakir Hossain of the Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court issued the order.

The accounts have money worth Taka 6 billion ($49 million), according to the media wing of the transitional government head Muhammad Yunus.

Other family members who had their accounts frozen are Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, daughter Saima Wazed Putul, her sister Sheikh Rehana, her husband Shafiq Ahmed Siddiq and family members Bushra Siddiq and Shaheen Siddiq.

The court also issued travel bans against Hasina, Rehana, Joy, Putul, Rehana's son Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby and his daughters Tulip Siddiq and Azmina Siddiq Ruponti.

UK minister Tulip Siddiq resigned earlier as Treasury minister in the face of growing criticism after being named in a Bangladesh probe concerning alleged corruption.

Hasina, however, has been in exile in India since an uprising last August that put an end to her 15-year rule while other family members are residents of the US and the UK.

The ACC sought the order in the wake of allegations of embezzlement, including those linked to the construction of the country’s largest project backed by Russia -- the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant -- the lone nuclear power plant expected to go into operation later this year.

A petition said the ACC was investigating the embezzlement of $5 billion against Hasina in the nuclear power plant project. A five-member team has been formed to submit an investigation report on the allegation.

On Monday, the ACC approved charge sheets against Hasina and her family members for corruption charges.

The Yunus government’s white paper committee found that during the Hasina regime from 2009 to Aug, 5, 2024, $234 billion was laundered from Bangladesh, including $17 billion from banking channels.