Abul Khair Group chairman’s rejoinder and our reply

Dr Kamal Hossain and Associates, on behalf of Abul Khair Group (AKG) Chairman Abul Kashem, has sent a rejoinder to The Business Standard over its 30 October report titled “Abul Khair family’s Tk50,000cr empire takes separate paths”.

The rejoinder described the report as a “materially inaccurate and misleading” account of Abul Kashem’s business history, alleging that The Business Standard did not contact him or seek his comments before publication.

It said that after his father’s death in 1978, Abul Kashem took charge of the family business while his four younger brothers were still minors – aged 16, 10, 5 and 2.5 years respectively.

“To preserve family unity and promote a sense of shared ownership and responsibility, he voluntarily allocated equal shareholdings to his brothers in the Group’s companies, including one brother who has been living abroad for the past 13 years and has never been involved in any of the Group’s business activities,” the rejoinder said.

It added that between 1983 and 2018, Abul Kashem established and developed AKG’s major businesses and brands under his leadership and supervision. These included vegetable oil (1983), Goru Marka Dheu Tin (1994), AKS TMT Bar (2010), Shah Cement (2000), Marks Full Cream Milk Powder (2002), Starship Condensed Milk (1994), and Seylon Tea (2004). “His contribution was instrumental, and he is the founder of Abul Khair Group.”

The rejoinder also disputed that Abul Kashem withdrew from the business after his brother’s death in 2003. It said he remained actively involved until 2019, when he first proposed an amicable separation.

“His efforts to reach an amicable separation should not be taken to mean that he has abandoned his contributions, given up his rights, or accepted being kept out of AKG’s management and affairs, despite holding the position of its Chairman,” it added.

“The differences mainly arose over the involvement of the next generation and plans to expand into new ventures within existing companies and product lines. He considered these ventures commercially unviable, and most of them failed to achieve the expected results,” it said.

Our reply

We tried to contact Abul Kashem by phone, but he could not be reached. We also tried to reach out to one of his brothers, who also declined to make an official comment but confirmed the family dispute over dividing their family business, which was mentioned in the report. 

We also talked to bankers, Abul Khair Group employees and family associates for this report. Our report was on the separation of the group, which Abul Kashem also explicitly mentioned in the rejoinder.

We also contacted some officials involved in his business to reach out to Abul Kashem physically but they declined to arrange saying that he never speaks to the media.