Bangladeshi leader Dr Kamal Hossain is in thick soup after the country’s National Board of Revenue (NBR) found him hiding yearly income, leading to charges of massive tax evasion. This week, the Bangladesh High Court has deferred a ruling on writ petition filed on behalf of Dr Kamal.
Earlier, the Tax Appeal tribunal upheld the NBR’s demand for Bangladeshi Taka 6.9 crore as payable for assessment year 2018-19 as legitimate. Hossain filed a writ petition in the High Court challenging the order of the Tax Appeal Tribunal.The High Court has adjourned the hearing for a week.
The NBR investigation revealed Kamal Hossain’s law firm in 2018-19 showed its annual income as Taka 1.04 crore, evading tax over 6 crore.
On 30 December 2019, the deputy tax commissioner observed that Dr Kamal’s firm had actually earned Taka 20.11 crores, and should pay Taka 6.09 crores as tax.
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Though a final verdict is awaited, the tax evasion case has become a blot on Gana Forum leader Kamal Hossain who was projected as an alternative to PM Sheikh Hasina by the Islamist opposition in 2018 polls.
Dr Kamal’s firm has barely disclosed five per cent of his actual annual earnings in his tax returns in the year he led the anti-Awami alliance of Islamist parties in the national elections.
The bank accounts of his law firm Kamal & Associates has come under scanner for these “shadowy financial transactions”.
His firm disclosed only Taka 1,04,03,495 as his annual earnings, but the bank account shows his actual earnings as Taka 20,11,04,219.
NBR sources say his firm is supposed to pay Taka 6,09,85,351 as income tax , but has actually paid Taka 76,41,548.
The source of this considerable income which Kamal Hossain allegedly concealed is also under probe.
It also remains to be investigated if some of this undisclosed income has flown from foreign sources, because his British son-in-law David Bergman had launched a propaganda blitz with Western support to project Dr Kamal as the PM face of the national Opposition.
According to Australia-based columnist Prof Abul Hasnat Milton, Bergman was hired by Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami in the run up to the war crimes trial.
Moreover, Bergman’s Netranews is funded by the National Endowment for Democracy or NED of the USA, the very country that opposed the war crimes trial as back then Hillary Clinton rang Sheikh Hasina to stop the trial and acted as a “conduit” between Tarique and Dr kamal.
The NED’s role in regime change operations of US Intelligence is well documented by experts like Jeff Richelson in his magnum opus “US Intelligence Community “.