Highly placed sources at the PMO said that the issue has been permanently covered up and instruction given to authorities concerned not to proceed with the matter anymore as it might embarrass the government further.

Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Dr Kamal Uddin Siddiqui on January 30 served a show-cause notice to APS-1 to the PM Shamsul Alam for abusing power for personal benefit, buying a house under false name etc.

According to the show cause, the APS tarnished the image of the prime minister by first taking allotment of a house meant for a secretary-level officer.

The second allegation says that the APS purchased a house for Tk 2.77 crore in the name of his brother-in-law from an auction of the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk), on false pretense.

The principal secretary's notice published in most national dailies on February 9 generated widespread discussion in all levels. Many felt that it was only the tip of the icebergs as many other officials of PMO indulged in corruption.

The APS in his reply of the show-cause denied all the allegations put against him.

Officials said that the APS in a very brief reply of the show-cause denied the charges brought against him by the principal secretary.

The APS concerned is of the rank and status of a senior assistant secretary of the administration. He served as protocol officer to the PM during Khaleda Zia's previous tenure and was later appointed as APS to the Leader of the Opposition from 1996 to 2001.

Shamsul Alam's wife Khadiza Khanam, who was a major in the nursing department of Bangladesh Army and attached to the PMO during BNP's previous regime, is now serving as protocol officer-2 at the PMO on contract.

Sources said officials at the PMO, who made huge amount of money through corruption and abuse of power in the last three and a half years panicked at the principal secretary's move and worked as a group to convince higher authorities to drop any investigation against Shamsul Alam, fearing greater revelation of corruption.

A section of officials at the PMO made all efforts to convince the prime minister and other policymakers of BNP to drop the APS issue as investigating the allegations might embarrass the government further.

According to highly placed sources the principal secretary has been asked by his higher authority at the PMO not to proceed further and bury the issue permanently.

Since then, the principal secretary has kept silent and the issue has been sent to the deep freeze. Meanwhile the accused is continuing his service as APS to the PM and not a minimum action has been taken against him.

Sources said government agencies have been instructed not to investigate the corruption issue of the APS fearing that digging of the incident might reveal other names who committed similar or bigger corruption.

"The APS is a hardcore man of the Hawa Bhaban and other corrupt and influential section of BNP. He is so influential and well connected that nobody can touch him," said a cabinet minister on condition of anonymity.

According to PMO insiders, a section of influential officials at the PMO, some BNP leaders and their relatives, including the APS purchased 14 government abandoned houses in city's posh Gulshan, Baridhara and Banani areas at much lower price secretly. It has been learnt that similar house at a throwaway price was bought by some very senior person at PMO.

Though the RAJUK floated tender in May last year to sell the abandoned houses, eligible buyers could not get tender copies from banks as they mysteriously disappeared. Prospective buyers were told not to try as the matter was 'settled'. As a result, the 14 government men purchased the houses easily, as others could not participate in the tender.

Reliable sources said 13 other BNP men, who purchased the abandoned houses, became united immediately after the show-cause notice was served against APS Shamsul Alam and they launched a combined move against the principal secretary and charged him with "sabotaging and destroying the image of the government".

All the buyers of the abandoned houses have now joined in a campaign against the principal secretary and they are attempting to remove him from the PMO, arguing that he may start corruption proceeding against others, thereby further embarrass the government.