M. A. Hashem

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M. A. Hashem
এম এ হাসেম
Member of Parliament
for Noakhali-2
In office
1 October 2001 – 28 October 2006[1]
Preceded byBarkat Ullah Bulu[2]
Succeeded byZainul Abdin Farroque
Personal details
Born(1943-08-30)30 August 1943
Noakhali, Bengal Presidency, British India
Died24 December 2020(2020-12-24) (aged 77)
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Cause of deathCOVID-19
Political partyBangladesh Nationalist Party
Spouse(s)Sultana Hashem
OccupationBusinessman, Politician

M. A. Hashem (30 August 1943 – 24 December 2020) was a Bangladeshi businessman and the founding chairman of Partex Group.[3][4] He served as member of Parliament from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.[5][6][7]

Early life[]

MA Hashem was born in 30 August 1943 in Sonaimuri of Noakhali.[8]

Career[]

In 1959, MA Hashem began his career by trading tobacco. He went on to establish Partex Group, one of the largest companies in Bangladesh consisting of over 70 factories and employs over 50,000 people. Partex's companies are market leaders in nearly all sectors of industry in Bangladesh.[9] He expanded his business into food & beverages, steel, real estate, furniture, plastics, paper, power & energy, jute, agribusiness, shipyards, shipping, cotton, textile, construction, IT, cables, aviation, PVC, ceramics, telecommunication, logistics, fisheries, etc.[9]

MA Hashem was elected to Parliament in 2001 from Noakhali-2 as a Bangladesh Nationalist Party candidate. He was arrested by the Caretaker Government in 2007 during the 2006-2008 Bangladesh political crises along with most of the wealthiest people in the country at the time. He left Bangladesh Nationalist Party in 2008 after the military-baked caretaker government regime in Bangladesh had ended and steadfastly denied his involvement in a business syndicate that manipulated commodity prices.[9] He also said former prime minister Khaleda Zia had pressured him to join the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.[10]

In January 1992, United Commercial Bank provided a 200 million taka loan to Russel Vegetable Oils Limited, an edible oil refinery. At that time, his wife, Sultana Hashem, two brothers were directors of United Commercial Bank. Another loan was approved in November 1992 by the bank for the refinery for 4.5 million taka. The loan was rescheduled 4 times till 2000. The Bank then sued the company to get its money back. In 2008, when MA Hashem and his son, Showkat Aziz Russell, were Directors of United Commercial Bank; the bank agreed to settle the case for a payment of 50 million taka. MA Hashem is a founding member of United Commercial Bank and has served as the chairman for five years. He is also a founding member of The City Bank and has served as the chairperson for five years.[11]

On 8 April 2011, A Dhaka court framed charges against MA Hashem and 8 members of his family and employees on a tax evasion case. The case was filed by National Board of Revenue, which accused them of dodging 5.97 billion taka in taxes from 2006 to 2008. Hashem and the other accused pleaded not guilty and demanded justice before the court. The two year period that Hashem was accused of evading tax (2006-2008) is also the same two year period of the 2006-2008 Bangladesh political crises.[12]

In 2020, the International Finance Corporation or IFC of the World Bank Group published a report on the private sector in Bangladesh featuring 23 of Bangladesh's top companies based on revenue, MA Hashem's conglomerate Partex Group was on that list.[13]

MA Hashem joined the Board of Trustees of IBAIS University in 2013.[14] He is a founding member of North South University and also sits on the trustee board.[15] In 2019, he became the chairperson of the board of the university.[16]

Having come from modest backgrounds himself, MA Hashem has set up numerous charitable organisations and is widely acknowledged for his philanthropic work.[13] He has schools, hospitals, and other non-profit organisations in Noakhali.[13]

MA Hashem has received immense recognition and several accolades from notable organisations for his service as a positive catalyst to the Bangladesh economy and a mass employer.[17]

Personal life[]

Hashem was married to Sultana Hashem.[18] They had five sons — Aziz Al Kaiser, Aziz Al Mahmood, Aziz Al Masud, Rubel Aziz and Showkat Aziz Russell.[19][12]

Death[]

Hashem died on 24 December 2020 from the COVID-19 infection at the Evercare Hospital in Dhaka at the age of 77.[8]

References[]

  1. ^ "List of 8th Parliament Members". Bangladesh Parliament. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  2. ^ "List of 7th Parliament Members". Bangladesh Parliament. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  3. ^ "Partex Group chairman fails to turn up at ACC". Prothom Alo. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  4. ^ "High lending rates hold businesses captive". The Daily Star. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  5. ^ "Moudud, Mosharraf to face trial". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  6. ^ "Jalil, Babar, Sheikh Selim, Altaf, Mintoo, others held in massive drive". The Daily Star. 2007-05-29. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  7. ^ "Jalil, Babar remanded; Altaf, Patal sent to jail". The Daily Star. 2007-05-30. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  8. ^ a b "পারটেক্স গ্রুপের চেয়ারম্যান এম এ হাসেম মারা গেছেন". The Daily Star Bangla (in Bengali). 2020-12-24. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
  9. ^ a b c Mar 14, Moinak Mitra / ET Bureau / Updated; 2014; Ist, 19:03. "Soth Asian Business Tycoons: How tycoons from Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka built thriving business empires - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2021-06-16.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Correspondent, Senior; bdnews24.com. "Politics is not the only way to serve the country, says former MP Hashem". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  11. ^ "Bank bends rules for its directors". The Daily Star. 2017-09-09. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  12. ^ a b "Hashem family indicted for tax evasion". The Daily Star. 2011-04-08. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  13. ^ a b c "MA Hashem: A legacy spanned from supplier to multi-industrialist". The Business Standard. 2020-12-24. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  14. ^ "MA Hashem joins IBAIS University Trustee Board". The Daily Star. 2013-04-02. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  15. ^ "Governance contest inaugurated at NSU". New Age. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  16. ^ "8th International HR Conference held at NSU". The Daily Star. 2019-04-26. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  17. ^ Ahmed, Sharif (2018-09-17). "MA Hashem Biography, Born, Age, Facts, News". Legends of Bangladesh. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  18. ^ "Partex Group splits". The Daily Star. 5 July 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  19. ^ Staff Correspondent; bdnews24.com. "Partex chairman's son, former RAJUK chairman land in jail on graft charges". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
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