SC asks Destiny Group MD, Destiny-2000 chairman
Pay Tk 2,500cr for bail
They have to pay Tk 2,800cr by selling tress from their Tree Plantation Project or Tk 2,500cr from any other means in 6 weeks to pay affected investors
STAFF REPORTER
Two top bosses of Destiny Group will get bail only if they pay the affected investors Tk 2,800 crore by selling off trees of the Tree Plantation Project or Tk 2,500 crore by any other means in six weeks. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) gave the order yesterday on Destiny Group Managing Director Rafiqul Amin and Destiny -2000 Limited Chairman Mohammad Hossain in two money laundering cases.
A three-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, passed the order while disposing of two petitions filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) against the High Court order that had granted bail to the two accused in the cases.
The apex court said that the duo would be released on bail only if they pay the money in six week from the date of court order so that the government could provide the money to affected investors. The apex court also asked the jail authorities to give Amin and Hossain the chance to sign necessary documents for the tree selling process and complete other formalities from jail, if needed. It also said that Destiny incumbent Chief Executive Officer Shamsul Haque Bhuiyan, MP, would monitor the whole tree selling process. Hauqe took the responsibility of Destiny Group after the MD and chairman of the Destiny had been arrested. Later, ACC lawyer Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan told reporters that the Destiny bosses would have to pay Taka 2,800 crore in six weeks time by selling off tress from the companys Tree Plantation Project or pay Taka 2,500 crore from any other means for coming out of jail on bail.
The ACC will submit a report before the court after monitoring the fact whether the money is reaching the hands of the subscribers who had suffered monetary losses because of Destiny. After getting the ACC report, they will be released on bail, Khan noted.
Earlier on July 20 this year, the HC granted the six-month ad-interim bail to the two Destiny Group and Destiny-2000 high-ups on certain conditions in the two cases.
Later, the ACC filed appeals with the Supreme Court against the HC order. After hearing on the appeals, the apex court yesterday granted conditional bail for them in the cases.
On July 31, 2012, the anti-graft watchdog filed the two money laundering cases against Destiny-2000 Chairman M Hossain and the Destiny Groups Managing Director Rafiqul Amin and 20 others on charge of misappropriating investors money amounting to Tk 3,285 crore. ACC Deputy Director Mozahar Ali Sarder filed one case with Kalabagan Police Station against 12 officials of Destiny-2000, including its chairman and managing director, under the Money Laundering Act 2012 for allegedly misappropriating over Tk 2,106 crore from the Destiny Tree Plantation Limited (DTPL). ACC Assistant Director Toufiqul Islam filed the other case with the same police station against 22 Destiny officials under the same act for alleged embezzlement of Tk 1,178 crore from the Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited (DMCSL). On May 4 this year, the ACC submitted charge-sheets before the court in the two cases. The chairman and the MD of Destiny surrendered before a Dhaka court in connection with the two cases seeking bail on October 11, 2012.
