Kaya Cosmetics owners hide Tk 190 cr assets

Charge sheet approved by ACC

Staff Correspondent: The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has approved the charge sheet of five separate cases against Abdul Khalek Pathan, chairman of Kaya Cosmetics Limited, his wife and three children on charges of illegal acquisition of Tk 190 crores and concealment of wealth information.
The charge sheet of those cases was approved by the head office of the ACC on Wednesday. ACC Deputy Director Md. Shafiullahwill file the charge sheetin the judicial court soon. This was confirmed by the Public Relations Officer of the organization Deputy Director Muhammad Arif Sadek.
According to the ACC, five cases were filed against them on September 14, 2021. In the case, they were accused of concealing the information of illegal assets worth Tk 183.85 crore 84 and Tk 96.29 crore. Investigations which have decreased somewhat.
According to the investigation report of the cases, the chairman of Kaya Cosmetics Limited submitted the statement of assets to the ACC on June 23, 2019; By verifying which, evidence of concealment of information of acquiring wealth of Tk 52.75 crore has been found. On the other hand, assets of Tk 101.36 crore have been found inconsistent with legitimate sources of income.
The investigation also showed that Abdul Khalek Pathan, along with his wife, one son and two daughters, were accused of acquiring non-income assets, and five separate asset declaration notices were issued in their names. In view of which, on June 23, 2019, Abdul Khalek Pathan submitted the statement of assets to the ACC secretary. After reviewing the records collected during the verification and investigation of the statement of assets submitted by him, it has been found that the accused Abdul Khalek Pathan has shown total assets of Tk 446.88 crores including immovable and immovable assets in the statement of assets submitted by him.
Meanwhile, Firoza Begum, the wife of Abdul Khalek Pathan and the director of Kaya Cosmetics, has been accused in the approved charge sheet of acquiring known assets of Tk 3.17 crore. However, there were more allegations of illegal assets in the case.
Apart from this, after verifying the assets statement submitted on June 23, 2019, the ACC accused Feroza Begum of concealing information of assets worth Tk 17.11 crore.
Similarly, the director of Kaya Cosmetics Limited and the son of Abdul Khalek Masum Pathan has been accused of acquiring illegal wealth of Tk 90.49 lakh. Masum Pathan had also submitted a statement of assets to ACC on 23 June 2019. Evidence of concealment of assets worth Tk 2.72 crore has been found against him.
On the other hand, Khaleda Parveen, daughter of Abdul Khalek Pathan and managing director of Kaya Cosmetics, has been accused of acquiring illegal wealth of Tk 55.24 lakh. Besides, the accused has been accused of concealing the information of acquiring wealth worth Tk 1.96 crore.
Similarly, his other daughter and director of Kaya Cosmetics Limited, TanseenKair, has been charged with illegal assets. In the approved chargesheet, Tanseen has been charged with concealment of assets amounting to Tk 2.9 million in the declared assets.
They have been charged under Section 4 (2) of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2012 along with Section 26 (2) and 27 (1) of Anti-Corruption Commission Act-2004.
Earlier, on August 20, 2017, the ACC had filed a case and subsequently a charge sheet against Abdul Khalek Pathan and eight people including his son for embezzling Tk 111.14 crore from Bangladesh Krishi Bank. He was also arrested in that case. However, he later came out on bail.
On February 23, 2016, Abdul Khalek Pathan was interrogated by the then deputy director of the ACC, Harun-Or Rashid, on various allegations of corruption including illegal assets.