Bangladesh's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has arrested two Biman Bangladesh Airlines (BG, Dhaka) employees and is suing 16 of the airline's staff on charges of corruption and abuse of power for offences allegedly carried out in the airline's cargo handling department.

The ACC filed the case against the 16 ex-employees with the anti-graft watchdog's Integrated District Office 1 in Dhaka on December 3, ACC spokesperson Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya told the Dhaka Tribune newspaper.

It is claimed that the state exchequer has incurred a loss of BDT1.18 billion taka (USD13.9 million), with the offences alleged to have taken place between 2012 and 2017.

The arrestees are Ali Ahsan, former Director of Sales and Marketing at Biman, and its Assistant Manager (Export) Iftikhar Hossain Chowdhury. A dozen of the accused were all former Assistant Managers (Trade), while the remaining duo were Acting General Manager (Cargo) Arif Ullah and Assistant Manager (Export) AKM Monjurul Haque.

Just last month the Bangladeshi ACC filed a lawsuit against four managers at the national flag carrier, including former Managing Director Mosaddique Ahmed, alleging graft and abuse of power during the pilot recruitment process.