ACC sues 44 Destiny Group officials

January 17, 2014

Staff Reporter :
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has approved the charge sheet against 44 executives of Destiny Group on charge of plundering and laundering Tk 4,119.24 crore.
The commission in its routine meeting in its head office in Dhaka on Thursday gave the approval. The accused included Chairman and former Army Chief Lieutenant General (Retd) Harunur-Ar-Rashid and Managing Director Mohammad Rafiqul Amin.
The investigation report states that the accused collected the money in the name of investing in its 32 unprofitable business entities including Destiny Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society and Destiny Tree Plantation Limited between 2009 and 2012.
They collected the money from over eight lakh clients promising them a good return within a short time. But they deposited those in their personal accounts at home and abroad, the report states.
The investigation team of the commission led by its Deputy Director Mozahar Ali Sardar submitted the 1,300 pages final investigation report to the Commission’s Director M Moniruzzaman in the afternoon on last Monday.
The other accused are Destiny-2000 Ltd Chairman Hossain, Rafiqul Amin’s wife Fara Diba, its Deputy Director Gofranul Haque, Directors: Saidur Rahman, Mezbah Uddin Swapan, Syed Sajjad Hossain, Irfan Ahmed Sani, Ms Farah Diba and Jamshed Ara Chowdhury, Engineers Sheikh Taybur Rahman, Nepal Chandra Biswas and Zakir Hossain, Joint-Secretary Azad Rahman, Treasurer Akbar Hossain Sumon, Ms Shirin Akhter, Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Sarkar, Mohammad Mojibur Rahman, Mohammad Suman Ali Khan, Mohammad Saidul Islam Khan Rubel and Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad and Diamond Builders Ltd’s Chairman Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Didarul Alam.
The new 25 accused are Major (Retd) Sakibuzzaman, SM Ahsanul Kabir,
A H M Ataur Rahman, Golam Kibria, M Atiqur Rahman, Khandaker Benzir Ahmed, AKM Safiullah, Shah Alam, Delwar Hossain, Best Aviation’s former Chairman M Haideruzzaman, Advisor Zoynal Abedin, former Chief Finance Officer Kazi Fazlul Karim and former officer Mollah Al-Amin.
Besides, Shafiul Islam, Zia-ul-Haque Mollah, Zesmin Akhter, Firoj Alam, Sikder Kabirul Islam, Omar Faruque, Golam Hossain, Sunil Boron, S Shahiduzzaman, Abdur Rahman, Farid Akhter and Shafiqul Haque have also been made accused.
In addition, the team recommended for departmental action against 11 officers of the Directorate of the Cooperative Society Ltd on charge of not maintaining their duty registers. They permitted the Destiny Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society to open 20 new branches and enhanced their capitals to Tk 1,400 crore from 50 crore.
The ACC on July 31 filed the two money-laundering cases against Destiny 2000 Ltd President Lt Gen (retd) M Harun-Ar-Rashid, MD Rafiqul Amin and 20 others on charge of misappropriating investors’ money.
Mozahar Ali filed one case with Kalabagan Police Station against 11 officials of Destiny 2000 Limited, including its chairman and managing director, under the Money Laundering Act 2012 for misappropriating Tk 2106,64,65,500 from the Destiny Tree Plantation Limited (DTPL).
ACC Assistant Director M Tawfiqul Islam filed another case with the same police station against 22 Destiny officials under the same law for embezzlement of Tk 1178,61,23,024 from the Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited (DMCSL).