Illegal wealth: 5 cases filed against Keya Cosmetics owner, family
ACC filed a case each against Khaleque, his wife Firoza, son Masum, and daughters Khaleda and Tansin accusing them of amassing wealth illegally and concealing assets
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed five cases against Keya Cosmetics Ltd owner Abdul Khaleque Pathan, his wife, and their three offspring over allegations of amassing illegal wealth worth more than Tk183.84 crore, and concealing assets worth more than Tk96.29 crore.
Assistant Director of ACC Integrated District Office 1 in Dhaka Md Shafi Ullah filed the cases on Tuesday night, a number of senior insiders told The Business Standard, adding that the commission had sought related documents from Khaleque and his family members in 2019.
According to the case documents, Khaleque – in his wealth statement submitted on 23 June 2019 following an ACC directive – showed owning movable and immovable assets worth Tk446.88 crore.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
But during a scrutiny of his wealth statement as part of an investigation, the commission unearthed information about assets worth Tk496.28 crore from various records – indicating that he concealed wealth worth more than Tk49.39 crore in his statement.
Meanwhile, a thorough scrutiny of all of Khaleque's records and documents showed he owns assets worth around Tk528.99 crore.
According to the ACC, the acceptable income from assets Khaleque showed in his wealth statement is about Tk395.26 crore. This means he has failed to show any legitimate source for assets worth at least Tk133.73 crore.
The commission also filed a case against Khaleque's wife and Keya Cosmetics' Director Firoza Begum over allegations of amassing Tk25.96 crore in illegal wealth and for concealing information about assets worth Tk17.11 crore.
Another case was filed against Khaleque's son and Keya Cosmetics' Director Md Masum Pathan over allegations of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk5.47 crore and concealing information about assets worth Tk2.72 crore.
The ACC filed a case accusing Khaleque's daughter and Keya Cosmetics' Managing Director Khaleda Parvin of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk2.35 crore and concealing assets worth more than Tk1.96 crore.
Khaleque's other daughter and Keya Cosmetics' Director Tansin Keya has been accused of amassing illegal wealth worth Tk16.31 crore and concealing assets worth more than Tk25.09 crore, and the commission filed the fifth case against her.
On 20 August 2017, the ACC had filed a case against Khaleque, his three offspring and four others, accusing them of embezzling Tk111.14 crore from the Bangladesh Krishi Bank. Khaleque was arrested at that time, but he managed to avoid further incarceration after getting bail.
