The Anti-Corruption Commission has requested Bangladesh Bank governor Ahsan H Mansur to temporarily freeze all safe deposit lockers belonging to the central bank鈥檚 officials.
The commission鈥檚 move came after an ACC probe team on January 26 had found a huge amount of undisclosed assets, including foreign currencies and gold, in the safe deposit locker belonging to former Bangladesh Bank deputy governor Sitangshu Kumar Sur Chowdhury.
The ACC on Sunday sent a letter signed by its director Kazi Saemuzzaman to the BB governor with the request of freezing all such lockers under the security vaults.
The anti-graft agency also requested the central bank governor to take measures so that no one can take the assets from the lockers, said ACC director general (prevention) Md Akter Hossain on Tuesday.
On January 26, with the approval of court, the ACC team had conducted the search in the Bangladesh Bank鈥檚 coin vaults in the presence of an executive magistrate.
The search was part of an ongoing investigation into SK Sur Chowdhury who has been under ACC scrutiny for his alleged links to Prashanta Kumar Haldar, also known as PK Halder, the prime suspect in a number of financial scam cases in Bangladesh.
During the search, three sealed lockers belonging to SK Sur were opened, revealing a significant haul: 55,000 euros, 1,69,300 US dollars, 1,005.4 grams of gold and fixed deposit receipts worth Tk 70 lakh.
Upon further investigation, it was found that other officials of Bangladesh Bank had also placed sealed deposits in the vaults.
These lockers may contain undisclosed assets too, said the ACC letter.
According to ACC鈥檚 documents, investigations are ongoing against several Bangladesh Bank officials for various offences, including money laundering.
On January 30, a meeting was held between finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed and ACC chairman Mohammed Abdul Momen to discuss issues related to corruption and asset recovery.
At the meeting, the matter of the assets stored in the Bangladesh Bank鈥檚 vaults was addressed and the finance adviser agreed to temporarily freeze these assets.
The Bangladesh Bank spokesperson could not be reached for comments over phone.