Of the three cheques, the first one is for $27,77,351, equivalent to Tk 19,16,37,225, the second one is for Euro 1,28,609, equivalent to Tk 1,18,32,108 and the third one is for 14,059 Singapore dollar, which is equivalent to Tk 6,39,724. All the three cheques are drawn on City Bank NA, Singapore.

The government has so far been able to retrieve Tk 451 crore after the drastic measures taken against the corrupt businessmen and political bigwigs. At first, it recovered Tk 274 crore from a business group which laundered the money. Then it recovered Tk 77 crore from the Basundhara group.

Tk 20 crore was recovered from former state minister for home, Lutfuzzaman Babar, who received the amount from the chairman of Basundhara group as bribe to save his son. Tk 80 crore was recovered very recently from S. Alam group. All these amounts are recovered in local currency, and have been kept in a government account in Bangladesh Bank.

Earlier, the joint forces seized a huge amount of illegally possessed local and foreign currency from the residence of former communication minister Nazmul Huda. The seized currency include Tk 18,68,470, 1,796 Singapore Dollars, 1,350 Pounds, 300 Euros and 18 Dinars. Huda was widely accused of making a huge amount of money through corruption, and it is believed that he has siphoned off the money abroad.

The most talked about corrupt figure in Bangladesh is Tarique Rahman, the eldest son of the former prime minister Khaleda Zia. Tarique became billionaire just in a few years. Her second son, Arafat Rahman Koko, has also been implicated in a number of graft cases for plundering huge amount of public funds.

Besides her two sons, many relatives of Khaleda Zia became fabulously rich under her direct patronization. Tarique reportedly disclosed to the members of the joint interrogation cell that he has deposited money in banks of different countries.

AL general secretary Abdul Jalil and presidium member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim have reportedly disclosed some sensational information about Sheikh Hasina during interrogation by the intelligence agencies, admitting that she owned assets worth one thousand crore Taka.

They also mentioned that Hasina used to receive a fixed rate of bribe, as for example, Tk three crore for granting license to a bank, Tk two crore for insurance company, and a minimum of Tk one crore for any tender approval, while she was the prime minister.

According to a newspaper report, both the detained AL leaders have told the interrogators that out of Tk one thousand crore worth of assets possessed by Sheikh Hasina, only a meager amount of money remains at home as most of her assets are in London and United States.

The assets are kept under the names of her son Sajeed Wazed Joy, daughter Saima Wazed Putul and sister Sheikh Rehana. Besides, Hasina kept a huge amount of money in banks there in her own name also.

Denying the allegation of possessing hundreds of crores of Taka, AL president Sheikh Hasina has expressed surprise over the publication of reports in a section of the press regarding her alleged involvement in taking a huge amount of subscription for party funds. "Its nothing but a deliberate bid to alienate me from my party and the people," some party leaders quoted Sheikh Hasina as telling them when they met her.

The commercial banks in the country have reported that former prime ministers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina have around 45 bank accounts in their names. According to the report, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and her counterpart in the AL maintain accounts with six or seven banks where each have Tk 2-3 crore. The National Coordination Committee on Combating Corruption and Crime sought the information through the Bangladesh Bank.

It has been learnt that the government is likely to reach specific agreements with certain countries for retrieval of the siphoned-off money. According to sources, fruitful correspondence is going on with the countries where crores of Taka were deposited. The government is also trying to sign agreements with the international anti-terrorist organizations to accelerate the process of repatriating the money.

Bangladesh Bank has formed a special team -- Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) -- with technical assistance from the US to combat financial crimes and to retrieve money kept abroad. The FIU is comprised of Bangladesh Bank officials and Anti-Corruption Commission and law enforcing agency officials.

The FIU has already received training on identification of illegally transferred money. It will also work as a data bank, using sophisticated software and technology to identify financial crimes.

The World Bank has offered its assistance to recover the siphoned-off wealth. The World Bank's South Asia Region Vice President Praful C Patel made this pledge on June 2 in a media briefing at the conclusion of his three-day visit to Bangladesh. "Stolen assets must be recovered, and the World Bank stands ready to provide assistance in this regard," said Patel.

The United Nation (UN) has also offered help in retrieval of illegally earned money sent overseas. The 11-member UN delegation head, Sergey Kerev, who is also assessment and technical assistance director of the counter terrorism committee, informed the media of this offer after he met the Bangladesh Bank governor on June 4.

The detained political bigwigs and business leaders have continued to disclose startling information to the Task Force for Interrogation (TFI) about massive corruption by themselves and by the two top leaders of the country.

Really, it beggars the imagination to think of the amount of money that some politicians and businessmen had earned, enjoying unchecked power and privileges during the tenure of the immediate past government.

In fact, some ministers, MPs and business leaders turned the country into their private fiefdom for plundering its wealth. What operated in the country under the garb of an imperfect democracy in the past 15 years was the kleptocracy.

Most of the corrupt ministers, MPs and business leaders maintain accounts with offshore banks where, in all likelihood, huge amounts of money have been siphoned-off. The CTG must make all out efforts for retrieving the siphoned-off money, using World Bank and UN assistance, and bringing the corrupt to trial.

ANM Nurul Haque is a columnist of The Daily Star.