cases against Destiny bosses
Petitions challenging trial rejected
STAFF REPORTER
The High Court (HC) yesterday rejected two separate petitions filed by Destiny Group Chairman retired Lieutenant General M Harunur Rashid and Managing Director Rafiqul Amin seeking cancellation of the trial proceedings in two money laundering cases against them. After concluding hearings on two criminal petitions, the HC bench comprising Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice JBM Hassan passed the order.
ACC counsel Khurshid Alam Khan said, There is no legal bar for the trial court to continue the trial proceedings in the two money laundering cases against them following the High Court order. Earlier on 24 August, a Dhaka court framed charges against 51 officials of Destiny Group, including Harunur Rashid and Rafiqul Amin, in two cases filed by the ACC for swindling nearly Tk 4,119 crore of investors money from two projects. Later, Destiny Group chairman and managing director filed two separate criminal appeals with the HC challenging the lower courts indictment order.
31 On July, 2012, the ACC filed the two money laundering cases against 22 officials of Destiny 2000 Limited, including its chairman and managing director 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 Limited, including its chairman and managing director, under the Money Laundering Act 2012 for misappropriating over Tk 2,106 crore from the Destiny Tree Plantation Limited (DTPL).
ACC Assistant Director Toufiqul Islam filed another case with the same police station against 22 Destiny officials under the same act for the embezzlement of Tk 1,178 crore from the Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited (DMCSL). After filing the two cases in connection with the swindling, the ACC team conducted a marathon investigation for over 17 months and submitted the report on 6 January 2014. According to the investigation report, nearly Tk 4,119 crore of investors money was swindled out from the two projects of Destiny Group. The report said the Destiny officials collected over Tk 2455.15 crore from its about 17.5 lakh investors by selling trees in different packages under the Destiny Tree Plantation Limited (DTPL).
