Govt officials who met Khaleda identified: minister

The government officials, who had a meeting with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, have been identified, State Minister for Public Administration Ismat Ara Sadek has said.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, she said intelligence agencies spotted the public servants, who will face administrative measures soon.

"I had said earlier the government will not take this lightly… Those involved will face consequences," she said.

Several television stations and online media reported a meeting at Khaleda's Gulshan office on Dec 4. They claimed the participants included a group of officials of the administration.

Later that night, BNP's acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir rubbished the reports in a media statement. But the government said the incident would be looked into.

The minister, however, did not say on Tuesday how many officials had been identified.

An official of the public administration ministry told bdnews24.com that the list of the attendees of the meeting was collected through three intelligence agencies.

"The government is examining names of those who are on the list. Administrative steps will be taken as soon as they will be identified," he said on condition of anonymity.

According to the ministry official, it has been known that some of the public servants in the meeting belong to the administration cadre. The rest were non-cadre officers and employees of different ministries.

Several former bureaucrats and advisers to the BNP chairperson were seen at her office Thursday (Dec 4) night. They were all retired government officials.

Khaleda was at her Gulshan office from around 9pm until midnight that day.

On his way out of the office, Mirza Fakhrul told reporters that many in the BNP chairperson's advisory council were former secretaries. No present government officials were at the meeting.