The former finance minister AHM Mustafa Kama, alias Lotus Kamal, and his daughter Nafisa Kamal had amassed extreme amount of wealth by exploiting illegal ways which had a very negative impact to the country’s economy.
Sources say that the father-daughter duo and their family members have built a huge empire in Dubai by smuggling around Tk 25 thousand crore. Lotus Kamal, who became a controversial businessman-turned-minister, was involved in the share market manipulation, and his family members have huge wealth, registered with or without their names, in various companies, starting from the companies of housing sector in Dubai of UAE.
According to Anti-Corruption Commission-ACC sources, the group led by Lotus Kamal and his family have grabbed around Tk 20 thousand crores for the additional fees fixed by the government in the name of sending workers to Malaysia. The gang extorts huge sums of money from the workers with false promises of jobs. Earlier in 2010, Lotus Kamal smuggled about Tk 5 thousand crore abroad by manipulating the stock market. After receiving the information about the smuggling of this money to Dubai, a three-member investigation team led by ACC Deputy Director Nurul Huda has started to verify it.
The data published by the European Union or EU Tax Observatory (EUTAX) on May 16 this year said that in 2022, 532 Bangladeshi property owners (including ownership of properties purchased before the end of development or construction) were found in Dubai's housing sector in 2022. Lotus Kamal and his family's names are in this list, according to multiple sources. Furthermore, according to the latest data available, the value of Bangladeshi-owned properties in Dubai's housing sector is 283 million US dollars. Including off-plan properties, this asset value stands at 37 crore 74 lakh dollars.
Former President of Bangladesh Economics Association Professor Dr. Mainul Islam, said, “Lotus Kamal took the country's economy to the brink of destruction by enjoying all the government facilities while he was the finance minister. AHM Mustafa Kamal, who served as the finance minister, was responsible for the extreme chaos in the country's financial sector.”
Lotus Kamal has been the MP of Comilla-10 (Nagalkot, Sadar Dakshin and Lalmai Upazila) for 16 years from 2008. Lotus Kamal and Nafisa Kamal fled the country on July 15 after seeing the fall of Sheikh Hasina's government with a luggage full of money. The current government has seized the bank accounts of Lotus Kamal, his wife Kashmiri Kamal and daughter Nafisa Kamal, and suspended the bank account transactions of the businesses owned by them by the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) of Bangladesh Bank.
Residents of Lotus Kamal’s constituency complained that people from all walks of life were like held hostage by the Lotus Kamal syndicate during the last 15 years of Awami League rule. The person who could pay more amount of money became the chairman and member of the union council. Party posts were obtained in exchange for money. As a result, every office was run by Kamal. Projects and facilities of ADB, Tier and Kabikha were used to allocate to people of their choices. He used to deduct 30% of these allocations as his percentage. In this way hundreds of crores of Tk obtained through corruption and irregularities reached Dubai through the syndicate to Lotus Kamal and his family. And in that sense, Lotus Kamal has built a huge fortune in Dubai in the last 15 years.
According to ACC sources, when Malaysia's labor market opened in July 2022 after nearly four years of closure, Malaysia was tasked with selecting recruiting agencies to send workers. The Ministry of Expatriate Welfare and Foreign Employment sent them a list of 1,520 recruiting agencies. But only 25 agencies were selected. There was no policy in selecting the agency. It has been seen that former finance minister Mustafa Kamal and his family, along with three former MPs, Awami League leaders, city corporation councilors and many new organizations in this sector have sent a large number of workers. Former Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal's wife Kashmiri Kamal's Orbitals Enterprise has sent 7, 152 people and daughter Nafisa Kamal's Orbitals International owned 2, 709 workers. The cost per person set by the government to send workers to Malaysia is Tk 79 thousand. The syndicate took Tk 5 lakh 44 thousand per worker.
On the other hand, many workers went to Malaysia and did not get work due to various complications or some of them returned empty-handed indebted with loans. On April 19 this year, a statement was published on the website of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) about the plight of Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia, where many Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia live in inhumane and undignified conditions.
Sources say that Lotus Kamal left the country's economy in dire straits during his tenure as Finance Minister. At this time, he did not even go to the ministry, let alone deal with the economic crisis. In the 53-year history of Bangladesh, he has shown the highest failure by remaining on the post of finance minister. During his time, the bad loans in the banking sector increased terribly. People's money has gone out of the bank. Even with the connivance of directors with Lotus Kamal and his family, public money has been looted in the name of bank loans. In five years of Kamal’s being finance minister, the dollar crisis took the worst shape in history. Inflation rose to an 11-year high. Commodity prices have increased at an unusual rate. Irregularities and corruption have also increased in the overall financial sector. Money laundering has increased several times during this time. On the one hand, even though he was not working in the ministry, he did not spare time to expand his personal business.
It is reported that one of the 10 syndicates identified for exporting manpower to Malaysia belongs to Mustafa Kamal's brother-in-law Arif Hussain. This organization named Aces was originally Mustafa Kamal's own company. At that time he was in charge of Planning Minister. In order to remove the legal obstacles, the brother-in-law has been named in the papers. Similarly, during his tenure as Finance Minister, he issued two licenses for Manpower Export Syndicate in Malaysia in the name of his wife Kashmiri Kamal and daughter Nafisa Kamal. The two companies are Orbital International and Orbital Enterprises. Out of this are Orbital Medical Center and Gulshan Medicare Limited were also established.
Wife's wealth is more than Kamal’s: In the election affidavit filed by AHM Mustafa Kamal in the 12th National Parliament election, it had been seen that the total wealth of Lotus Kamal was Tk 41, 90, 53, 714. In the name of his wife there were assets worth 62, 27, 19, 478 taka. However, multiple sources close to Lotus Kamal's family say that not even 1 percent of their huge wealth in the country and abroad was in the income tax file.
Stock Market Manipulation: In 2010, Lotus Kamal was the most accused in the stock market scam. He was then the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Finance. Lotus Kamal did not have to face any kind of punishment during Sheikh Hasina's government despite various complaints. Millions of investors of the stock market have become destitute due to the manipulation of his syndicate. Their capital has been looted. During the 15-year rule of the Awami League government, whenever the talk of share manipulation and forgery came up, these names came up again and again. They put people of their choice in the top positions of regulatory bodies to help manipulate the market. This gang together looted thousands of crores of Taka from the stock market.
According to various investigations, about Tk 20 thousand crore went into the pocket of Lotus Kamal, the then Planning Minister of the Awami League government, in the manipulation of 2010. It is alleged against him that he had smuggled about Tk 5000 crore abroad by forging Lotus Kamal shares. After 2010, although he was no longer directly involved in share trading, behind the scenes the fraud was committed by Lotus Kamal. With his cunningness, advice and behind-the-scenes cooperation, one after another manipulative syndicates were formed in the stock market. After the scandal in 2010, the then chairman of Krishi Bank, Khandkar Ibrahim Khaled, headed the commission of inquiry.
In this context specific allegations were made against Lotus Kamal in the investigation of Khandkar Ibrahim Khaled. Legal action is recommended against them. But the Awami League government did not take any action against them. He became unstoppable as he did not stand up to the law. He took sole control of the entire stock market. Their decision in the stock market was the final matter. Chairman and Commissioner of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) used to appoint their preferred person to keep their manipulation going. They nominated their preferred officers to be responsible for various departments.
Irregularities in building construction: Meanwhile, Mustafa Kamal has built a 20-storey building with the approval of 14 floors in Gulshan of the capital. 6 floors above 14th have been extended by altering the design. Former Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal built a huge building by combining plots No. 59 and 60 adjacent to Gulshan Avenue in Gulshan Circle No. 1 in the capital. Rajuk has discussed the matter several times but due to legal complications it has not yet been approved.
(The report was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on August September 6 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque Khan)
