Former Bangladesh ministers face corruption allegations
Army, police and security forces arrested the ministers among 13 people in the capital with ties to both the outgoing Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the main opposition Awami League on Sunday.
A former BNP lawmaker from eastern Bangladesh was also detained late Sunday.
Media tycoon Mosaddek Ali Falu, a former lawmaker who served as political secretary to outgoing prime minister Khaleda Zia, also surrendered to the authorities later, his wife Lita, told AFP.
Falu owns the country's biggest private television channel NTV and is a majority stakeholder of a big private bank.
Among those arrested were Zia's communications minister Nazmul Huda and Mohammed Nasim, a former home minister of the main opposition Awami League which held power until October 2001.
"If evidence of corruption is found the government will not hesitate to take steps against the top politicians," interim government member M.A. Matin was quoted as saying by the leading Daily Star newspaper Monday.
Security officials have not issued any statement on the arrests, but an interim cabinet member told AFP on condition of anonymity that the leaders were mainly arrested on corruption charges.
"They are now being interrogated by security officials," he added.
The arrests were the most high-profile since the country's military-backed interim government launched a nationwide crackdown on corruption, criminals and underworld-linked politicians.
Bangladesh's interim government was installed on January 12, following president Iajuddin Ahmed's decision to impose a state of emergency, cancel disputed election and stand down as head of the first interim government.
Since the emergency was declared, the army is widely seen as having orchestrated events behind the scenes after the United Nations threatened it with the loss of its much-prized peacekeeping duties if one-sided elections boycotted by the opposition went ahead on January 22.