The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has ordered the seizure of assets and imposed a travel ban on 17 officials of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) following allegations of various irregularities and corruption. They are accused of helping in tax and duty evasion and acquiring illegal wealth.

On Monday (24 November), ACC Deputy Director Md. Aktarul Islam told journalists that letters have already been sent to various departments to verify the sources of the accused officials’ assets. As the preliminary investigation found evidence of illegal wealth, the ACC has issued notices to all 17 officials to submit their wealth statements.

The list of these 17 officials includes NBR’s Income Tax Policy members Md. Lutfu lAzim and K. M. Badiul Alam; former Additional Director General (CIC) A. Md. Alamgir Hossain; Joint Commissioner Md. Tariq Hasan; Additional Commissioner Sadhan Kumar Kundu; Commissioner of Customs, Excise & VAT Commissionerate Kazi Md. Ziauddin; Commissioner of Railway Customs Md. Kamruzzaman; Additional Commissioner of the Large Taxpayers Unit (VAT) Abdur Rashid Mia; Deputy Tax Commissioner of Tax Zone–16 Mohammad Shihabul Islam; and Additional Tax Commissioner of Tax Zone–8 Mirza Ashiq Rana.

Also included are BCS Tax Academy Joint Tax Commissioner Mohammad Morshed Uddin Khan; Deputy Tax Commissioner of Tax Zone–16 Monalisa Shahrin Susmita; Additional Commissioner of the VAT Audit, Intelligence & Investigation Directorate Hasan Tarek Rikabdar; Additional Commissioner Mohammad Mamun Mia; Additional Commissioner of the Intelligence Unit Sahela Siddique; Commissioner of the Tax Appeal Tribunal Lokman Ahmed; and Commissioner of Tax Zone–3 M. M. Fazlul Haq.

On 19 August, the ACC requested wealth statements from these 17 officials. The ACC said the action was taken after obtaining information about their illegal wealth during the inquiry.

In June this year, under the banner of the NBR Reform Unity Council, protests began at the National Board of Revenue against the decision to split the revenue board into two parts. After a week-long pen-down strike, a sit-in, and finally a two-day complete shutdown demanding the removal of the NBR chairman, the protesting officials returned to work. At that time, the ACC began investigating allegations of “corruption” against 16 NBR officials who participated in the protests.