Destiny scam HC to hear ACC appeal against 45 convicts

Staff Reporter :
The High Court on Monday admitted an appeal petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) seeking increase of the sentences of 45 accused, including Destiny Group President former Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen (retd) Harun-Ar-Rashid, in a case filed over embezzling Tk 18.61 billion.
The High Court bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Justice Kazi Md. Ejarul Haque Akondo passed the order. The court also said that the ACC’s appeal would be heard along with Harun-Ar-Rashid’s appeal against the sentence.
A Special Court in Dhaka on May 12 this year sentenced all the 46 accused, including former Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen (retd) Harun-Ar-Rashid and Destiny Group Managing Director Rafiqul Amin, to different terms of imprisonment in the case.
Harun-Ar-Rashid was sentenced to four years imprisonment and fined Tk 35 million and Rafiqul Amin was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment and fined Tk 2.0 billion. The court awarded minimum imprisonment to the former Chief of Army considering his noble contribution to our great liberation war.
Judge of the Special Judge’s Court-4 in Dhaka, Shaikh Nazmul Alam, delivered the verdict after concluding all the proceedings of the case.
Since Destiny Group Managing Director Rafiqul Amin was given highest punishment as per the relevant law his name has been scrapped from the appeal petition, said ACC lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan.
The Anti-Corruption Commission on July 31, 2012, filed two cases under Money Laundering Prevention Act with capital’s Kalabagan Police Station.
In one case, 46 people were accused of misappropriating Tk 18.61 billion under the cover of Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited Project, while in another case 19 people were accused of embezzling more that Tk 22.57 billion through Destiny Tree Plantation Project (DTPP).
The court on August 24, 2016 framed charges in the two cases. Of the two cases, the court pronounced the judgment in Destiny Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited case on May 12 this year.
Later on June 9, Gen Harun-Ar-Rashid filed an appeal petition against his four years jail sentence given by the special court in the case and the same HC bench admitted it. However, the court summarily rejected the bail petition filed by Gen Harun-Ar-Rashid in the case.