ABOUT 10kg of gold worth US$1.3mil (RM5.3mil) was seized from bank lockers belonging to ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, anti-corruption officials said.
Officials from the Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) of the National Board of Revenue said the discovery was made after opening lockers that had been seized in September.
“Following a court order, we opened the lockers and found about 9.7kg of gold belonging to the former prime minister,” a senior CIC official said.
The haul included gold coins, bars and jewellery.
Investigators said Hasina had failed to deposit some of the gifts she received while in office at the state treasury, as required by law.
The National Board of Revenue is also probing alleged tax evasion and examining whether Hasina declared the recovered gold in her tax filings.
Bangladesh has been in political turmoil since the end of Hasina’s rule, and violence has marred campaigning for elections expected in February 2026.
Earlier this month, the International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Hasina to death over a deadly 2024 crackdown against a student-led uprising, which killed up to 1,400 people.
Hasina fled the country following the uprising and remains in exile in India. The Foreign Ministry has asked she be extradited so that her sentence can be carried out. — AFP
