The High Court (HC) on Sunday granted anticipatory bail to Keya Cosmetics Ltd Chairman Abdul Khaleque Pathan and his wife Firoza Begum in cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on charges of amassing illegal wealth worth more than Tk 183.84 crore, and concealing properties worth more than Tk 96.29 crore.
The HC also asked their son Md Masum Pathan, Keya Cosmetics Director, daughter Khaleda Parvin, the company's Managing Director, and another daughter Tansin Keya, Director of the company, to surrender before a lower court within six weeks.
The court also directed Abdul Khaleque Pathan and Firoza Begum to submit their passport.
The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and SM Mozibur Rahman granted the bail and issued the surrender order after hearing five separate petitions filed by Abdul Khaleque Pathan and his family members.
Lawyer Nitai Roy Chowdhury appeared for the accused while Md Khurshid Alam Khan, AKM Fazlul Huq, Omar Faruk and Asif Hassan stood for the ACC, and Deputy Attorney General AKM Amin Uddin Manik represented the State.
On September 15, the ACC filed separate cases against the five for amassing illegal assets worth Tk 184 crore and concealing wealth worth Tk 96 crore.
Khaleque Pathan submitted his statement of assets to the ACC on June 23 in 2019. After investigation, the ACC found evidence that he concealed assets worth Tk 49.39 crore.
The ACC also found assets worth Tk 133.73 crore that was not consistent with the Keya Cosmetics Chairman's sources of legal income.
Pathan's wife Firoza Begum, also director of Keya Cosmetics, has been charged in another case over assets worth Tk 25.96 crore. After checking her asset statement, the commission brought charges against her for concealing Tk 16.11 crore.
Their son Masum Pathan has been charged with concealing information on assets worth Tk 2.72 crore and illegally amassing Tk 5.47 crore in the third case.
In the fourth case, Khaleda Parveen, Masum's sister and managing director of Keya Cosmetics, has been accused of concealing information on assets worth Tk 1.96 crore and illegally amassing Tk 2.35 crore.
The fifth case was filed against Tansin Keya, director of Keya Cosmetics, for concealing information on assets worth Tk 16.31 crore and illegally amassing Tk 25.9 crore.
On August 20 in 2017, the ACC filed a case against Abdul Khaleq Pathan and six others, including his son and daughter, for embezzling Tk111.14 crore from Bangladesh Krishi Bank.
On the same day, the ACC arrested Abdul Khalek Pathan in connection with the case.
