The National Board of Revenue (NBR) Wednesday asked all banks to freeze the accounts of former prime minister 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. The wealth statement she 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 NBR okayed Khaleda's Tk 1.30 crore undisclosed money on payment of Tk 33 lakh tax this month but rejected Tarique and Koko's bid to legalise Tk 18 lakh and Tk 1.5 crore respectively by paying a total tax and fine of Tk 44 lakh. Wednesday's NBR notice identified Khaleda with 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 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.