ZYMA ISLAM

Financial statements of former MP Kazi Nabil Ahmed and his brothers’ famed British tea enterprise offer a rare glance into how powerful people in Bangladesh take their money to the UK via Asia’s business hubs.

On April 12, 2024, Nabil and his brothers Kazi Anis Ahmed and Kazi Inam Ahmed, who control Gemcon Group which owns Kazi & Kazi Tea, told a hearing in the Royal Courts of Justice in London that they were the sole investors of a UK company.

Yet the company’s bank statements from 2020 to 2021 show something striking, there was not a single transfer from Bangladesh to the UK company.

Instead, the money invested in the UK company came from firms in Singapore and Dubai, with the Dubai firm being owned by Anis.

Nabil’s affidavit, submitted to the Election Commission before the polls, does not mention his foreign businesses. But he told the UK court he invested in the UK company.

Several incidents of capital flight out of Bangladesh to offshore tax havens amidst strict controls on money movement have been reported recently.

Now, transcripts of the UK court hearing obtained by The Daily Star show that Nabil and his two brothers fought for an injunction against a UK-based business partner so that he does not reveal if Bangladeshi money-laundering laws were breached to set up their business.

The Daily Star has obtained a list of companies the Bangladesh Bank approved between 1971 and 2023 for sending money abroad, but Gemcon Group was not on the list.

The Anti-Corruption Commission here is currently investigating Nabil’s wealth. According to his affidavit filed before the 2024 national elections, Nabil’s income increased by over 1,000 percent since the 2018 elections.

He also has Tk 900 crore in loans from different banks, placing him among the top

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