Three candidates omit UK assets, citizenship in affidavits

Several candidates in the upcoming parliamentary election have withheld information about significant overseas assets and, in some cases, foreign citizenship from their mandatory affidavits, official filings and UK corporate records show.

The discrepancies involve BNP and Gono Odhikar Parishad nominees, who are listed as British nationals or directors of UK-based companies in British corporate records, despite declaring otherwise to the Election Commission.

The EC has cleared their candidacies. 

A total of 21 candidates disclosed in their affidavits that they had acquired and later renounced foreign citizenship.

Zahidur Rahman, a Gono Odhikar Parishad candidate for Sylhet-6, made no mention in his affidavit of 11 companies in the United Kingdom with which he is associated. Two of these are trusts -- Bangladesh Probashi Odhikar Parishad UK Ltd and Haji Aftab Ali Foundation Trust Ltd.

Zahidur holds shares ranging from 12.5 percent to 100 percent in seven of the companies.

In his affidavit, he declared earning Tk 29.7 lakh annually in rent from overseas properties and Tk 1.32 crore from his profession.

He stated that he filed for forfeiture of his British citizenship on December 28, 2025.

“I have absolutely nothing to hide. I did not mention these companies because I have not taken out any dividends from these companies,” Rahman told The Daily Star. “Until the money is taken out or paid as dividends, it belongs to the companies.”

AKM Quamruzzaman, BNP’s candidate for Dinajpur-5, did not disclose a UK-based company where he serves as a director.

The real estate firm, Coombe Hill Development Ltd, appointed

Quamruzzaman as a director on February 12, 2021. 

The company has total assets worth £1.41 million, and Quamruzzaman is its sole director. It is wholly owned by Avox Ltd, an offshore entity based in the United Arab Emirates.

In his affidavit, Quamruzzaman mentioned only his law chamber in London, valuing it at Tk 50 lakh. 

However, UK corporate filings show that the net assets of the chamber are worth Tk 3.5 crore, and that he owns 95 percent of its shares.

Quamruzzaman said he forfeited his British citizenship on December 22, 2025. 

His case was among those deliberated by the EC, which ultimately declared his candidacy valid on January 21.

Quamruzzaman told this newspaper that he does not earn anything from Coombe Hill Development and therefore did not mention it in his affidavit. 

“Lawyers are often appointed as directors in companies. I was similarly made a director there,” he said.

The nationality of Mohammed Koysor Ahmed, BNP’s candidate for Sunamganj-3, is listed as “British” in UK corporate filings. 

However, in his affidavit, Koysor stated that he neither holds dual citizenship nor has held any foreign citizenship in the past.

British corporate records show that Koysor was the director of a company called Sonargaon Indian Cuisine Limited for 14 years until it was dissolved in October 2022. 

When the company was incorporated in 2008, Koysor was a Bangladeshi national. 

From 2009 onwards, however, corporate documents list him as British. The records were duly authenticated.

The company went bankrupt and was liquidated in 2014. 

At the time of liquidation, it owed £303,132 to its creditors, most of which was owed to the UK’s income tax authority.

This is further reflected in the corporate filings of another company he registered in 2016, where his nationality is again listed as British.

In his affidavit, Koysor stated that he earns around Tk 15 lakh annually from the UK. 

However, he did not disclose any overseas income of his wife, Taslima Akhter Lima.

Lima, a British national, owns four active companies in the UK, according to the affidavit. The annual returns of these companies show that all are currently loss-making ventures.

This newspaper made multiple attempts over several days to reach Koysor by phone, but he did not respond.