Bangladesh’s military-backed emergency government has targeted 17 more prominent politicians including two former ministers as part of a corruption crackdown, an official said on Tuesday.The 17 have each been asked to account for their wealth within seven working days, said Anti-Corruption Commission official Reba Halder. “They have to submit their wealth reports, bank accounts and assets of family members,” said Halder, adding that the politicians included former law minister Moudud Ahmed and former telecommunications minister Aminul Haque. Both ministers are members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) which led a coalition government until last October.
Since a political crisis that led to elections being cancelled in January, Bangladesh has been ruled by an emergency government led by former central bank governor Fakhruddin Ahmed. It has pledged to clean up BangladeshÂ’s notoriously corrupt politics before holding rescheduled elections by late 2008. Last month one former BNP minister was jailed for 13 years by a special anti-corruption court set up to try graft suspects.