Bangladesh Ex-PM Khaleda Zia’s Bank Accounts Unfrozen After 17 Yrs

Bangladesh tax authorities on Monday decided to unfreeze the bank accounts of former Prime Minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party Chairperson Khaleda Zia. Around 17 years back banks were ordered to block them.

According to a report in the Bangladeshi newspaper the Daily Star, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has instructed banks to unfreeze the accounts of BNP Chairperson Zia.

In August 2007, the NBR’s Central Intelligence Cell directed banks to freeze the accounts of the BNP Chairperson as per a recommendation of a panel formed during the then Army-backed caretaker government of that time.

The latest move comes after a mass uprising led to the ouster of Sheikh Hasina on August 5, ending the Bangladesh Awami League’s 15-year rule.

After an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was sworn in on August 8, Zia was released from jail.

Zia was the prime minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996, and again from June 2001 to October 2006.