DHAKA, Feb 25: At least six prominent political figures were arrested on Sunday in Bangladesh as they appeared before an anti-corruption panel to explain how they amassed wealth far in excess of their income, police said.

They were arrested as they sought to meet a Sunday deadline set by the panel to explain their wealth or face confiscation of assets.

Among those arrested was Mosharraf Hossain, an aviation minister in the 1996-2001 Awami League government, said Wing Commander Nurani of the Rapid Action Battalion.

“His name is in the corruption list. Our teams picked him up from the government's anti-corruption office in the capital, Dhaka,” Nurani said.

Police also arrested a former top power ministry bureaucrat, A.N.H. Akhter Hossain, influential city council commissioner Abdul Kaiyum and three ex-ministers of the outgoing Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP): Hafiz Ibrahim, Mohammad Ghiasuddin and Mirza Abbas.

“We have several teams at the office. We are arresting those whose names have appeared in the corruption list,” Nurani said.

All six were named by the panel as among the country's top 50 corrupt people whose wealth does not match their income. The commission on Thursday ordered the 50 to explain their wealth within three days or face confiscation of their assets.

The arrests bring to at least 36 the number of high-profile detainees with links to both the BNP and main opposition Awami League as part of an anti-graft drive launched by an interim government that came into office in January after months of violent political turmoil.

Former army chief lieutenant general Hasan Mashud Chowdhury on Sunday took over as head of the country's anti-corruption committee.

Chowdhury, who had an impeccable record in the army and also earned praise when he took a cabinet position in the previous interim government, promised to wipe out corruption from the country.—AFP