The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has been gripped by an uneasy situation as some of its top officials were sent into forced retirement and others placed under the Anti-Corruption Commission’s (ACC) scanner, allegedly for their involvement in the recent movement under the banner of the "NBR Reform Unity Council".

“How would it be an easy situation in the NBR while there are so many things happening in the NBR within this short time?” a senior official of the NBR told UNB.

The official, who joined the recent movement and preferred anonymity, said that resentment is brewing among the NBR officials and that it might take a serious turn.

The NBR Reform Unity Council has been demonstrating through a series of protest programs, demanding structural reforms and the removal of the NBR chairman, citing allegations of administrative irregularities, officer intimidation, and obstruction of reform efforts.

Since early June, the agitating officials have held a complete shutdown, marches, work abstentions, hunger strikes, and human chains, disrupting services in tax, VAT, and customs offices across the country.

The protests began after the government issued an ordinance on May 12, dissolving the NBR and the Internal Resources Division, and replacing them with the Revenue Policy Division and the Revenue Management Division, creating scope to inject admin cadre officials into these two divisions.

The NBR Reform Unity Council on Sunday withdrew its "complete shutdown" and "march for NBR" programs after a group of leading businesspeople emerged as a bridge between the government and the officials.

The government also formed a five-member adviser-level committee to suggest ways to resolve the stalemate centering the reforms in the NBR, and they held a meeting with NBR officials on Thursday.

The NBR officials were asked to submit their proposals within the next two weeks.

The situation seemed to return to normal as Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed asked the NBR officials to start their work “without fear and favour,” and NBR Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan requested everyone to work for the country “forgetting past disputes.”

But the ACC on Sunday launched a probe against six senior officials of the NBR on charges of corruption, abuse of power, and nepotism in facilitating illegal benefits for individuals and institutions over the past two decades.

The six officials under investigation are: AKM Badiul Alam, member (Income Tax Policy); Mirza Ashiq Rana, additional tax commissioner, Tax Zone-8, Dhaka; Mohammad Morshed Uddin Khan, joint tax commissioner, BCS Tax Academy; Monalisa Shahreen Sushmita, deputy tax commissioner, Tax Zone-16, Dhaka; Hasan Tarek Rikabdar, additional commissioner, Audit, Intelligence and Investigation Directorate, VAT, Dhaka; and Sadhan Kumar Kundu, additional commissioner, Customs, Excise and VAT Commissionerate, Dhaka (South).

Among them, Hasan Tarek serves as the president of the NBR Reform Unity Council, and others joined the movement in various capacities.

The ACC again on Tuesday launched a formal investigation against five more senior officials of the NBR over allegations of amassing illegal wealth, abuse of power, and favouritism.

The officials facing the probe are Abdul Rashid Miah, additional commissioner, Large Taxpayers Unit (VAT); Md Lutfur Azim, member; Md Alamgir Hossain, former additional director general, Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID); Md Shihabul Islam, deputy tax commissioner, Tax Zone-16, Dhaka; and Md Tarek Hasan, joint commissioner.

The government on Wednesday sent three NBR members, who were the topmost officials of the cadre, into early retirement.

According to the Internal Resources Division website, all of them were sent into forced retirement for the sake of public interest.

They are Hossain Ahmed (Customs Policy and ICT), Md Alamgir Hossain, and Md Abdur Rouf (VAT Policy).

The IRD also sent Md Sobbir Ahmed (Commissioner of Taxes, Zone-Barisal) and M Moinul Erfan (Joint Director General of the Tax Inspection Directorate) into early retirement.

The NBR has suspended Commissioner (in-charge) of Chittagong Custom House Md Zakir Hossain for allegedly disobeying official instructions, which resulted in the disruption of trade activities and significant revenue losses.

According to an NBR circular issued on Monday, Zakir Hossain violated a prior directive dated June 18, 2025, which ordered all revenue-related offices, including Customs, VAT, and Income Tax departments, to remain open on June 21 and June 28 (both Saturdays) to boost revenue collection.

Despite this instruction, the Chittagong Custom House remained closed on June 28 (Saturday) and June 29 (Sunday), causing disruptions in import and export activities and subsequent financial losses to the government.

Citing this breach, the NBR has suspended him.

Revenue collection activities across the country have come to a near-complete halt due to an unprecedented shutdown of offices under the NBR, triggered by protests and non-cooperation from officials pressing home their demands.

On June 28 and 29, key NBR wings, including Customs, VAT, and Income Tax, remained virtually inoperative due to the "complete shutdown" and "march for NBR" programs.

The officials, under the banner of the NBR Reform Unity Council, had called the protest programs, demanding the immediate removal of the chairman.

A former commissioner of the NBR who retired a couple of years ago said that those who have been given forced retirement were the most sincere and one hundred percent honest.

“All of them were clean-imaged officers. They were in the policy wing because they were capable, honest, and skilled,” he said, seeking anonymity.

But he failed to explain why these officers were sent into early retirement and what the logic behind such an act by the NBR could be.

“This creates serious resentment among the other officials, as far as I know,” he added.

He mentioned that these officers were at the forefront and were not accepting the ongoing irregularities and anomalies in the NBR.