Frozen bank accounts to be free in 7 days..........

The finance minister says the government will unlock in seven days all bank accounts that the emergency government froze citing alleged corruption and irregularities of their owners.

"They will be allowed to write cheques and transact in seven days," A M A Muhith told reporters Tuesday.

"But the money retrieved from abroad will not be given back," he said.

"This (freezing of accounts) was done when (a state of) emergency was in force. Now we have returned to a normal situation.

"We believe the accounts should be allowed to operate (while the law takes its own course)," the minister said of the 298 bank accounts.

Asked how the government would spend the Tk 1200 crore in retrieved graft money, he said: "We will decide very quickly."

"This money belongs to the state and has been deposited with specific government accounts. If the concerned people decide to move court, the government will fight them," Muhith said.

The minister faced reporters after a meeting with visiting ADB vice president Xiaoyu Zhao.

Asked whether the government was seeking more money from the ADB for the high-priority Padma Bridge project, he said the Manila-based bank was already helping with the Tk 140 crore design project. "If necessary, we'll ask in future."