Destiny MD among 51 officials indicted

A Dhaka court on Wednesday framed charges against 51 officials including its chairman Lt Gen (retd) M Harunur Rashid and managing director Rafiqul Amin, in two cases filed for swindling nearly Tk 4,119 crore of investors’ money from two projects.

Dhaka Senior Special Judge M Kamrul Hossain Mollah framed the charges. The court also fixed September 27 for starting the trial.

On July 31, 2012, the Anti Corruption Commission (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), reports UNB.

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 January 6, 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).