Goat scandal: Matiur’s wife Laila Kaniz makes first public appearance amid controversy

Laila Kaniz Lucky, the wife of former official of National Board of Revenue (NBR) Matiur Rahman and also Chairman of Raipura Upazila of Narsingdi, has made her first public appearance almost two weeks after the controversy after goat scandal.

Laila Kaniz is the first wife of Matiur Rahman, former president of the National Board of Revenue's (NBR) Customs, Excise and VAT Appellate Tribunal who has recently become embroiled in controversy due to his massive and unexplained wealth and disappeared from public view.

She participated in two preparatory meetings related to the upcoming HSC examination and the Bangabandhu Gold Cup Football Tournament at the Upazila Parishad office.

At that time, a large number of her supporters were present outside the office.

After the meeting, Laila Kaniz did not speak to the journalists. Even, she could not be reached over phone after the program.

Earlier, Laila Kaniz went to her office on June 13 for the last time.

She went into hiding after the goat scandal.

She could not be found despite trying to communicate through various channels. Along with her husband, there were many rumors about the source of her wealth as well.

Laila Kaniz became Raipura Upazila Chairman unopposed in 2022 after leaving her job as an associate professor at Government Titumir College. She is in charge of the relief and social welfare affairs secretary of the district Awami League.

After the goat scandal, various kinds of interesting news appeared in the media about the wealth in her name.

The family of Matiur Rahman came in the centre of the discussion following a Facebook post of Mushfiqur Rahman Iffat about buying a goat for Eid-ul-Azha for Tk15 lakh.

He identified Matiur as his father in some of his posts.

This sparked questions about how an official with a basic monthly salary of Tk78,000 at his grade (grade-1) could afford such an expense.

In a TV interview, however, Matiur claimed that Iffat was not his son, stating he only had two children—a son and a daughter.

Later, Feni-2 lawmaker Nizam Uddin Hazari claimed on a television program that Iffat was Matiur's son from his second marriage.

Over his 30-year career, Matiur has been investigated multiple times for graft by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

He studied at the Department of Finance of Dhaka University and joined the civil service in 1994 as an officer in the 11th BCS, according to media reports.