NBR seeks accounts of over 200 and freezes about 100 over suspected garment unrest links, sparking business concern
The businesspeople and organisations whose bank accounts the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has frozen on suspicion of involvement in creating unrest in the garment industry include some of the country's leading businesspeople. Those businesspeople have a positive image in business circles. The list also includes several businesspeople who have no connection with any political party. As a result, alongside discussion and criticism of the list, concern has appeared among businesspeople.
Unrest has continued in the garment industry for more than a week over workers' demands for a wage increase. In the face of the workers' movement, the government formed a wage board last Sunday. Even after that, the situation has not fully calmed. Industry owners met Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed last week about the existing situation. There he alleged the involvement of some ministers, state ministers and MPs of the ousted Awami League government in the workers' movement.
After a meeting with leaders of the garment owners' organisations BGMEA and BKMEA at the Secretariat last Monday, the home minister told reporters that garment industry owners who are involved with Awami League (activities banned) politics had also worked behind the creation of unrest. He said it was regrettable that some industry owners were involved, and that former MPs and a state minister were also involved.
After the home minister's statement, last week the NBR sought bank account information for more than two hundred persons and organisations. Among them, instructions were given to freeze the bank accounts of about 100 persons. Several NBR officials said the initiative was taken on the basis of intelligence agency information. The NBR's Income Tax Intelligence and Investigation Unit (ITIIU) and Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) prepared the lists separately.
One ITIIU list shows that among 110 persons and organisations, 67 are businesspeople. The organisations belong to seven industrial groups, with several organisations from multiple groups included. Among the 67 businesspeople, six were MPs during the ousted Awami League era. Two held posts in the Awami League and its affiliated organisations. The wives, brothers and business partners of those eight are also on the list. Beyond them, a section are leading businesspeople.
The NBR has also frozen the bank accounts of Tanvir Ahmed, managing director (MD) of Sheltech Group and Envoy Legacy Group, and his mother Rashida Ahmed. Neither of them has any connection with a political party. Tanvir Ahmed, a second-generation young businessperson of Sheltech Group, which is involved in garment, textile, ceramics, housing and other sectors, has a positive image in business circles. His father is the prominent industrial entrepreneur Kutubuddin Ahmed, chairman of Envoy Textile. Kutubuddin Ahmed and his son were once business partners with the Envoy Group owned by Abdus Salam Murshedi, a former MP of the ousted Awami League. Although they separated in business four and a half years ago, the NBR froze Tanvir Ahmed's and his mother's bank accounts based on the earlier link with Salam Murshedi's Envoy Group.
Tanvir Ahmed said that if names had been put on the list after verification, the harassment would not have happened. An organisation like theirs took 40 years to reach its current position. If there was an allegation, they could have been spoken to; if they had not cooperated, action could have been taken. He hoped the matter would be resolved quickly after verification. The NBR has summoned the bank accounts of five Envoy Group organisations. At the same time, the bank accounts of Salam Murshedi, his wife Sharmin Salam and his daughter Shehrin Salam have been frozen. After Salam Murshedi was arrested following the 2024 mass uprising, his two children, Shehrin Salam Oishi and Ishmam Salam, are currently looking after the business.
Businesspeople said Mosharraf Hossain of Standard Group, another leading garment industrial group, and his children also have no involvement with politics. Their bank accounts have also been frozen. Standard Group, which began its journey in the 1980s, is one of the country's leading garment-exporting industrial groups. The accounts of three of the group's organisations were summoned, and the bank accounts of eight people, including the group's founder A K M Mosharraf Hossain and Atikur Rahman and managing director Hasnat Mosharraf, were frozen. Hasnat Mosharraf said the NBR had put their names on the list very unfairly. They were never connected with any political party. Their factory's workers, alongside many other factories, had also joined the movement; that does not mean they instigated the workers to take to the streets.
Because one Tusuka Group entrepreneur was an MP during the ousted Awami League era, the bank accounts of eight people, including the group's other three entrepreneurs, were frozen. Yet those three entrepreneurs are not involved in politics. One of them is Arshad Jamal, a former vice-president of BGMEA, the garment owners' organisation. Tusuka Group has also landed in trouble because Fayzur Rahman, a former Awami League MP from Brahmanbaria-5, is a business partner. The bank accounts of 10 of the group's organisations were summoned, and the bank accounts of nine people, including directors Fayzur Rahman, Arshad Jamal, Refayet Ullah and Firoz Alam, were frozen. Fayzur Rahman was arrested after the political change. The other partners are now involved in the business.
A Tusuka Group director, speaking on condition of anonymity, said salaries were transferred to employees through the bank last Thursday, but a section did not receive pay because the bank accounts of several organisations had been frozen. Some 20,000 to 25,000 workers work in the factories. If production is halted for one day, the loss is 10 to 15 million taka. He added that one of the group's four entrepreneurs is involved in politics, the other three never did politics, and their bank accounts were also frozen. Such an initiative could send a negative message about the organisation to foreign buyers.
Mondal Group, one of the leading industrial groups in the garment sector, exported garments worth $560 million in the 2025-26 financial year. About 50,000 employees work in this group. The bank accounts of 28 of the group's organisations have been summoned. Alongside that, the bank accounts of 19 people, including the group's chairman Abdul Momin Mondal, managing director Abdul Alim Mondal, director Jobayer Mondal and Asadur Rahman, have been frozen. Momin Mondal was elected MP from Sirajganj-5 (Belkuchi-Chauhali) with Awami League nomination in the 2018 and 2024 national elections. After the political change, multiple cases have been filed against him. He is currently absconding.
Alongside summoning the bank accounts of three organisations of Chattogram's Well Group, the bank accounts of 11 people, including the group's chairman Abdus Salam and directors Syed Nurul Islam, Syed Nazrul Islam, Syed Sirajul Islam, Syed Shahidul Islam and Syed Tariqul Islam, have been frozen. This group's chairman Abdus Salam was treasurer of the Chattogram city Awami League. He was elected as an independent MP in the twelfth parliament. His brother Syed Nurul Islam was an adviser to the Awami Swechchhasebak League and is currently in jail. Well Group has garment, textile and processed food businesses. In addition, the bank accounts of five Givency Group organisations were summoned and the bank accounts of four people, including group chairman Khatib Abdul Zahid, were frozen. BGMEA leaders do not even know whether Abdul Zahid held any Awami League post. The accounts of three organisations of Uttara's Nipa Group were summoned and the bank accounts of four people, including group chairman Khosru Chowdhury, were frozen. Khosru Chowdhury has long been involved in Awami League politics. In 2024 he sought an Awami League nomination and did not get it. He later won as an independent candidate. After the political change he is absconding. In addition, the NBR has frozen the bank accounts of S M Abdul Mannan, former BGMEA president and general secretary of Dhaka North Awami League (currently banned), and his family member Farida Mannan. The bank accounts of former Mirpur MP Elias Molla and his family member Farida Elias have also been frozen.
Several businesspeople said that during every government's tenure, allegations of outside instigation in garment workers' wage movements arise. This tendency was greater during the ousted Awami League era, when allegations of domestic and foreign instigation were also made. Yet no specific evidence for such allegations was presented. This time, freezing the bank accounts of more than two hundred businesspeople and organisations on allegations of political involvement is unprecedented. In their view, if action had been taken on the basis of specific evidence rather than such a blanket step, no one would have objected, and the issue of businesspeople's image being damaged would not have arisen in this way.
Fazlul Haque, administrator of the FBCCI, the country's top business organisation, said there could be third-party instigation in the workers' wage increase movement. But if the real offenders are found through proper investigation and punished, no one will have any objection. Initiatives such as blanket freezing and summoning of bank accounts can create panic among businesspeople, and there is also a risk of trade and commerce being harmed. His call to the government was that action be taken against the real offenders and that no innocent person face harassment. Mahmud Hasan Khan, president of BGMEA, the garment owners' organisation, said that before bringing any final allegation against any person or organisation, it should be investigated well, and only then is taking action justified. They have not yet received the full list. Even so, they will contact the high levels of the government about the matter.
