HC Rejects Writ of Tabith's Candidacy Cancelation

The High Court has dismissed a petition seeking to revoke BNP's Dhaka North mayoral candidate Tabith Awal's candidacy.

The bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Md Khairul made some observations today before rejecting the petition filed by Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury.

A former judge of the Appellate Division, Choudhury claimed in his petition that in his affidavit filed with the returning officer, Tabith has concealed wealth records.

He filed the petition yesterday, two days after serving a legal notice to the Election Commission.

According to media reports, Tabith did not disclose in his affidavit that he is one of the owners of a company in Singapore.

“The firm is worth $2 million which is a huge sum of money for any country in the world. But Tabith did not mention it in his affidavit. His nomination must be canceled,” Justice Choudhury told the media on Thursday (Jan 23) after filing the complaint with EC.

Tabith is one of the three owner-directors of NFM Energy (Singapore) PTE LTD while the two other owners are his brothers Tafsir Awal and Tajwar Awal, according to reports published earlier this month.

The company holds significant stakes in Bangladesh Petrochemical Company Limited (BPCL), of which Tajwar is a director as a representative of NFM Energy, says media reports.

BPCL is not included in the list of 37 companies that Tabith disclosed to the EC as his business interests.

Tabith is the son of BNP leader Abdul Awal Mintoo. The family had been named in the Paradise Papers, leaked documents that showed how the wealthy families secretly invested in offshore tax havens.