November 26, 2025 | 07:22 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Anti-corruption authorities in Bangladesh have seized approximately 10 kilograms of gold worth about US$1.3 million or around Rp21.6 trillion from bank lockers belonging to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, officials said on Wednesday.
Officials from the Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) of the National Board of Revenue said the discovery was made after opening the seized lockers in September.
"Following a court order, we opened the lockers and found about 9.7 kilograms of gold belonging to the former prime minister," said a senior CIC official as reported by Al Arabiya, on condition of anonymity.
The confiscated items included gold coins, bars, and jewelry.
Investigators said Hasina failed to deposit a portion of the gifts she received while in office to the state treasury, known as "Toshakhana," as required by law.
The National Board of Revenue is also investigating alleged tax evasion and checking whether Hasina reported the discovered gold in her tax filings.
Bangladesh has been rocked by political turmoil since the end of Hasina's rule, and violence has marred the campaigns for the general election scheduled for February 2026.
Earlier this month, the International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Hasina to death for deadly crackdowns on a student-led uprising.
The UN said up to 1,400 people were killed in the crackdown as Hasina sought to maintain power.
Extradition Demands
As reported by Al Jazeera on Sunday, Bangladesh has again asked India to extradite former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She was recently sentenced to death in absentia for last year's deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising.
Touhid Hossain, holding the foreign affairs portfolio in Bangladesh's interim government, said Dhaka sent the letter two days ago, urging New Delhi to hand over the fugitive former leader.
Hasina, 78, has been in hiding in India - her close ally while she was prime minister of Bangladesh for 15 years, until her autocratic government was overthrown in a mass uprising in August 2024.
Following the court's decision, Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a release that India has an "obligatory responsibility" under a bilateral extradition treaty signed in 2013 to facilitate the return of the former leader.
The ministry stated that detaining Hasina is a "grave act of unfriendly behaviour," and called it "a travesty of justice for any other country to grant asylum to these individuals convicted of crimes against humanity."
India's Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded by saying they have "noted" Hasina's verdict. However, India has not commented on the prospect of her extradition so far. Bangladeshi newspaper, Prothom Alo, reported that Dhaka has made at least three extradition requests so far.
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