TDS Desk:

Bangladesh Bank has ordered to freeze the bank accounts of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s former personal assistant Jahangir Alam, his wife Kamrun Nahar and any organisation they own.

It has also asked banks concerned to submit all the information. including the account opening form, within the next five days.

Jahangir Alam came into the spotlight last year after allegations of amassing illegal wealth as well as other corruption using his position.

His name was brought up again Sunday.

During a press conference, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina brought forward the instance of Jahangir Alam, a former employee of her house.

“He worked in my house, he was a peon. And he made Tk400 crore in wealth. He couldn’t go anywhere without a helicopter. How did he make so much money? I took action immediately after I found out about it.”

Following up on this, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) of the central bank sent instructions to all banks yesterday (14 July) to seize his accounts.

According to the instructions, if there are any accounts in the name of the mentioned individuals and organisations owned by them in banks/financial institutions, the transactions of those accounts have been instructed to be suspended for 30 days under section 23 (1) (c) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012.

Jahangir Alam served as the prime minister’s personal assistant for two consecutive terms as well as for some time in the last term. Later, he was removed from that position due to various allegations.

But he still committed various unethical acts posing as the prime minister’s personal assistant.

In this context, a special notification was published from the Prime Minister’s Office warning about Jahangir in December last year.

The notice stated that Jahangir had no relationship with the prime minister or the Prime Minister’s Office.

Jahangir Alam hails from Naharkhil village of Khilpara union of Chatkhil upazila of Noakhali. He was the vice president of Noakhali District Awami League earlier.