The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has directed banks and financial institutions across Bangladesh to freeze the accounts of approximately 100 individuals suspected of financing recent turmoil within the ready-made garment (RMG) sector. Alongside these freezing orders, the revenue authority’s intelligence wings have requested detailed transaction records for nearly 125 corporate entities to verify whether capital from these sources was channelled into destabilising the country’s most vital export industry.
According to senior NBR sources, two internal intelligence divisions issued formal directives to financial institutions, instructing them to trace, secure, and restrict access to the targeted accounts immediately. The initiative follows intelligence inputs provided by multiple state agencies investigating the root causes of recurring labour disputes, factory disruptions, and violent protests that have impacted key industrial hubs such as Ashulia, Gazipur, and Savar in recent months.
The list of individuals targeted by the tax authority features several high-profile figures associated with the ousted Awami League administration, including former ministers, members of parliament, and prominent industrial titans. Prominent figures subject to the account freeze include former private industry and investment adviser Salman F Rahman, former state minister for power Nasrul Hamid, former commerce minister Tipu Munshi, former state minister for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam, former local government minister Tazul Islam, and former lawmaker Abdus Salam Murshedy.
Alongside political leaders, the investigation encompasses influential business personalities and leadership figures from the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). Notable industry figures named in the directives include former BGMEA president S M Mannan Kochi, Fayzur Rahman of Tusuka Group, Abdus Salam of Well Group, Khosru Chowdhury of Nipa Group, and Mosharraf Hossain of Standard Group. The freezing orders also extend to bank accounts registered under the names of immediate family members of these individuals.
A senior official at the NBR, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that financial tracking was launched to ascertain whether illicit funds were deployed to incite worker strikes, sabotage factory operations, or create artificial instability in the sector. Investigators are examining banking trails to establish whether routine corporate transactions masked payments made to orchestrate chaos.
Several individuals on the list are currently in judicial custody facing various charges, while others have gone into hiding following the recent political transition. NBR officials emphasised that the list is non-exhaustive, describing the ongoing probe as a dynamic process that could expand further as fresh intelligence emerges. Authorities have not disclosed a precise timeline for the completion of the financial investigation.
