Abul Hasan Chowdhury

Abul Hasan Chowdhury (born 15 April 1951; known as Kaiser) is a Bangladeshi politician. He served as the State Minister of Foreign Affairs and a Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Tangail-1 constituency for two terms.

Early life and education
Chowdhury was born on 15 April 1951 in Dhaka, East Bengal. He belonged to a Bengali Muslim zamindar family from Nagbari in Tangail, then part of Mymensingh district. He is the eldest son of a former president of Bangladesh, Abu Sayeed Chowdhury. His grandfather, Abdul Hamid Chowdhury, was a former speaker of the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly.

After completing his primary and secondary education from St. Gregory’s High School in 1968, Chowdhury was admitted to the University of Oxford where he studied philosophy, politics and economics and obtained his M.A. in 1976.

Career
Chowdhury joined the Awami League in 1990. He won his first election in 1991 from his ancestral constituency, Madhupur. He was the opposition whip and international affairs secretary of Awami league from 1991 to 1996, while the party was in opposition. After winning his second election in 1996 he served as the state minister of foreign affairs.

Controversy
The World Bank pulled out the $1.2 Bn funding for the Padma bridge project on the grounds that there was conspiracy to commit corruption. Abul Hasan Chowdhury, along with a few others, were accused of using connections in order to acquire the project. The Royal Canada Mounted Police filed a case in Toronto against the accused.

In 2015, the ACC investigated the case of Padma Bridge Scandal. After the World Bank continuously pushed the government to take actions against the alleged perpetrators, after 53 days' of investigation, ACC found nobody to be guilty. On the basis of ACC's report, Dhaka district judge court acquitted all the seven government officials who were alleged to have been involved in the corruption plot. Before that, the ACC exonerated Syed Abul Hossain and Chowdhury from the allegation of involvement in the corruption conspiracy. In 2017, the Canadian court found no proof of Padma bridge conspiracy and the Ontario Superior Court acquitted all, dismissing the case.

Personal life
Chowdhury is married to Nahid Chowdhury.