Authorised to crack down on corrupt people and culprits, the taskforces of the National Coordination Committee wrapped up their primary inquiry against the top shots, sending the finds to the anti-graft body yesterday for in-depth investigation.

The taskforces are now busy gathering information against 28 others on the second list that also drafts in BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Tarique Rahman and Chittagong Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, both of them now in jail.

Numerous teams from the taskforces went through painstaking research and inquiry for months to glean evidence and instances of corruption before documenting those for the ACC to pursue further.

"We received records of corruption allegations against 22 persons. The taskforces also provided important documents collected from different government offices and banks to back up the allegations," said an ACC source opting not to be named.

The ACC will now open separate files for each of the 22 graft suspects that include former health minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and brother of BNP chairperson Shamim Iskander.

The ACC investigation officers will work separately on the taskforce find in each of the files and then press for assets declaration of the suspect on completion of investigation.

The ACC, which also bracketed 50 as graft suspects in its first list on February 18, may also kick-start legal proceedings if it finds enough merit in specific corruption allegation against any of the 22 suspects.

Khandaker Mosharraf and Shamim Iskander apart, eighteen out of 22 names could be gathered till filing of the report last night. They are: Sheikh Helaluddin (former lawmaker and cousin of AL President), Shajahan Siraj (former jute and textiles minister), Barkat Ullah Bulu (former commerce adviser and Juba Dal president), Ziaul Haq Zia (former state minister), Redwan Ahmed (ex-BNP MP), Abdullah Md Taher (ex-Jamaat MP), Shahidul Islam (ex-lawmaker and 'militant patron'), Helaluzzaman Talukdar Lalu (ex-BNP MP), Manowar Hossain Dipjal (film star and BNP ward commissioner), MAH Selim, Syed Abul Hossain, Obaidul Karim (Orion Group chairman), Abul Hashem (former MP and Partex Group chairman), AZM Zahid Hossain (Doctors Association of Bangladesh leader), AK Azad (proprietor of Hamim Group), Atikullah Khan Masud (proprietor of Janakantha Globe Group), Giridhari Lal Modi (owner of Uttara Group), and Munshi Anwarul Islam (former chief conservator of forests).